Research Reports
Illinois’ youth problem: More millennials left Illinois than any other age demographic from 2011 through 2014
Illinois is suffering from an out-migration crisis, and millennials are leading the exodus. On a national scale, Illinois is the second-biggest net loser of both millennial taxpayers and their dependents, and millennial college students. Illinois’ youth out-migration problem threatens the state’s long-term financial stability and economic vitality. Illinois’ out-migration trend has worsened in recent years, helping to catapult Illinois…
Illinois remains uncompetitive after 2011 workers’ compensation changes
Illinois’ workers’ compensation system costs taxpayers $1 billion per year, and employers repeatedly cite hefty workers’ compensation costs as a driving factor in fleeing the state for friendlier business climates. High workers’ compensation costs most directly affect labor-intensive blue-collar employment sectors – which have struggled to regain their footing in Illinois since the Great Recession. Despite mounting evidence that workers’ compensation…
Workers’ compensation estimated to cost Illinois taxpayers nearly $1 billion per year
Workers’ compensation is a significant cost to Illinois taxpayers and drains scarce tax dollars from government coffers. A previous report in this series estimated the direct cost of workers’ compensation to state, county and municipal governments is $402 million in worker payouts per year.1 Building upon those findings, this report estimates that the total cost of workers’ compensation to…
Unpaid sick leave spikes Illinois teachers’ pension benefits
Pension costs for state government workers reached an all-time high in 2016, consuming 25 percent of the state’s general budget.1 Today, more than $8 billion of the state’s yearly $32 billion budget goes to pay for pension costs, sapping tremendous amounts of money from social services for the developmentally disabled, grants for low-income college students, and aid to home…
Government spending does not grow the economy
Government spending in Illinois (federal, state and local) already makes up more than 25 percent of the state’s economy, but many politicians, social institutions and think tanks continue to call for ever-higher government spending, claiming that more spending will result in additional economic growth. Pro-government-spending groups justify the benefits of government spending via the so-called Keynesian multiplier, which posits that…