While Karen Bernhard, junior in applied life studies, was home for winter break, she was surprised to receive an e-mail telling her that she was getting a raise. The $5.90 per hour she made working at the Illini Union would be raised to $6.50 starting Jan. 1.

Last year, the Illinois State Legislature voted to increase the minimum wage from $5.50 to $6.50 per hour. Illinois now has the ninth-highest minimum wage in the country and is among 14 states with wages higher than the federally mandated $5.15 an hour.

“I had no idea the law was changing, so I was all excited,” Bernhardt said. “Hey, free money.”

Bernhard is one of many people who benefited from the new law.

“The new, higher wage will mean an additional $2,800 a year for a full-time worker, meaning more money to pay bills, feed their families and try to save for the future,” Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a press release.

While many students are happy to see an increase in their paychecks, economics professor J. Fred Giertz said the wage increase might negatively affect the overall state economy. Workers might have difficulty finding employment as businesses cut jobs in order to afford the increase, he said.

“If you’re lucky enough to keep your job, the minimum wage is a good thing,” Giertz said. “But some people are going to lose.”

Giertz said that in some cases, businesses would be forced to raise their prices. If this is not possible, he said the next solution would be for businesses to hire fewer people. He said he believes this will impact people who live south of Champaign-Urbana the most.

“The minimum wage increase was more of a political response as opposed to economic,” Giertz said. “It doesn’t have a big impact on poverty, and it’s not an effective way of dealing with people with low incomes.”

Giertz said that leaving the minimum wage alone is the best way to impact poverty so that the market is given a chance to work on its own.

Blagojevich said he believes the wage increase will have a positive effect on the economy and is good for both working families and businesses.

“With this wage increase, workers will have more money to spend,” he said in a press release. “That puts money back into the local economy and businesses will ultimately benefit from higher sales.”

The wage increase did not come as a surprise to the University, which has been preparing for the change.

“We were informed that there would be incremental increases in the minimum wage over a three-year period,” Jayne DeLuce, associate director of campus recreation said. “So we’ve been planning for over three years now.”

DeLuce said campus recreation employs approximately 600 students, many of which start at minimum wage.

“A change like this will always make a financial impact,” DeLuce said. “You just have to plan and hope you have enough in the budget to accommodate that.”