Chicago loses 2,100 restaurant jobs as industry fights mandated wage hikes

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – As Chicago’s efforts to phase out sub-minimum wages are proposed nationwide, a restaurant industry advocate says the city’s mandate has led to job losses and empty storefronts.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, Chicago’s restaurant industry lost 2,100 jobs in the last year.

Illinois Restaurant Association President and CEO Sam Toia said Chicago is 10,000 jobs below pre-pandemic levels, and independent restaurants have suffered more since Mayor Brandon Johnson began phasing out the tip credit.

“Sure, I might be making a little bit more an hour as a server, but I’m not making as much as I was making before because I’m working less hours. This is what no one is reporting. We’re cutting hours. We’re cutting menus, and we’re going to keep doing that,” Toia told The Center Square.

The One Fair Wage ordinance passed by the city council in 2023 would sunset Chicago’s tipped wage structure in 2028.

In March, Johnson vetoed a city council measure to freeze the tipped wage phaseout.

Toia said the mayor doesn’t understand that jobs are being lost and that a major steakhouse in the city just went from 22 servers to 16.

“We’re losing jobs. Restaurants are closing. All you have to do is look up and down our commercial streets here in the city of Chicago,” Toia said.

Toia said 496 Chicago restaurants closed in the first half of 2025. He said labor costs have gone up 35% since the COVID-19 pandemic and product costs are up 33%.

Last week, Illinois U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, introduced legislation to eliminate sub-minimum wages across the country. The measure would also raise the national minimum wage to $25 by 2031 for large employers and by 2038 for smaller employers.

When asked by The Center Square if her bill might lead to reduced employment, Ramirez said that’s the argument by people who don’t want to pay living wages to their employees.

“But the reality is that right now you have people having to work two jobs so they can go maybe to the restaurant once a month or once every six months because they’re barely making it,” Ramirez told The Center Square.

Ramirez said she has been a supervisor since she was 19 years old.

“I could tell you that having employees that are getting paid living wages also guarantees retention, quality in employment and certainly the kind of morale necessary to have businesses be successful,” Ramirez said.

State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, proposed Illinois House Bill 4263 to preempt municipalities from eliminated the sub-minimum wage.

Toia said he applauded Tarver for introducing the bill, but Toia said he did not expect it to pass before the current legislative session ends May 31.