According to the United States Department of Labor, the minimum wage has been changing since 1938. As the discussion continues in Illinois today, Dr. Michael Miller, associate professor of economics at Depaul University, said teenagers need to start paying attention to wage changes.

Since 2012, Illinois legislators have been discussing the possibility of raising the minimum wage from its current amount of $8.25. According to Illinois State Rep. Elaine Nekritz, on Jan. 29, 2014, Gov. Pat Quinn discussed raising the minimum wage in his State of the State address that was delivered to the Illinois General Assembly and he met with President Barack Obama on Feb. 21, 2014 to discuss the issue.

Nekritz said the proposed law entails raising the minimum wage gradually over the next four years from $8.25 to $10.55 by July of 2016. Legally, employers can pay workers 18 and under 50 cents less than minimum wage.

Miller said he opposes raising the minimum wage because it would have a negative impact on the economy and greatly affect teenage employment, he said. Miller added that if it is too expensive for employers to keep paying for all of their workers, they would choose to keep someone older with more experience than a teenage worker just entering the labor market which “gets in the way of those first time job applicants of getting their job.”

Nekritz has not decided if she supports the law, but she said she believes the pending legislation should be changed so the higher minimum wage would apply to employees 23 and older to help protect young employees.

Economics teacher Robert Berg said he supports raising the minimum wage and he hopes future legislation will include adjustment for inflation.

According to Berg, the change would “be very good for teenagers” because students would feel more incentive to enter the workforce at a young age. He said he also believes greater teenage employment would benefit the entire community.

“More kids working means less crime, more productivity,” said Berg. “It means [students are] learning responsibilities [they] cannot really learn in school.”

Senior Maggie Doar worked as a lifeguard last summer receiving minimum wage. She said she plans to continue being a lifeguard and work as a nanny this coming summer. She said she is in favor of raising the minimum wage and the law would benefit teenage workers.

Rose Roman, assistant store manager of Northbrook’s Sunset Foods, said paying teenagers minimum wage is important to her. She added that the 16 high school students currently employed there are paid minimum wage, not 50 cents below, to encourage them to continue working at Sunset.

Doar said she experiences similar encouragement at Old Willow Club, the pool where she worked as a lifeguard.

“Every year that you work there you get a 50 cent raise,” said Doar. “They do that probably just to encourage people to come back and most of the workers are satisfied with the amount they get paid for the work they do.”

Although Roman focuses on taking care of the teenagers, she said she has mixed feelings about raising the minimum wage, she said.

“I do support it for adults that have a household,” said Roman. “I believe for someone who’s living with their parents, what we pay teenagers are good wages.”

According to Roman, “the kids are the future of America,” and even if the minimum wage were to rise, she would never want to prevent a teenager from obtaining a job.

Nekritz said the legislation has not been passed yet because “there is a lot of opposition in addition to strong support.”

There is disagreement whether raising the minimum wage will affect the economy positively or negatively, but there is agreement that the decision will impact teenagers.

“Raising minimum wage affects teenage employment the most,” Nekritz said.