Pritzker claims statewide economic growth, but these Illinois metro areas are shedding jobs

By Bryce Hill
02/10/2020
Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker touting growth in “every major region,” Illinois shed jobs in three metropolitan areas and lagged the national average in seven more.

TAGS: Bloomington, BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, budget, Carbondale, Champaign, Chicago, constitutional amendment, economic competitiveness, economic growth, economics, economy, employment, fair tax, flat tax, government spending, graduated income tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income growth, JB Pritzker, job creation, jobs, labor, Madison County, metro areas, Metro East, Moline, pensions, Peoria, population, progressive income tax, recession, Rockford, spending, spending cap, Springfield, St. Clair County, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, unemployment, Urbana, working-age

Lawmakers seek to place nation’s first job-killing amendment in Illinois Constitution

By Mailee Smith
02/05/2020
A proposal in the Illinois General Assembly would prohibit right-to-work laws in Illinois, making Illinois the only state in the nation to ban the policy in a state constitution.

TAGS: constitutional amendment, economic growth, graduated income tax, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, Janus v. AFSCME, job creation, jobs, labor, lawmakers, private sector, progressive income tax, public sector, right to work, Rockford, Springfield, unions

Chicago teachers who don’t want to fund CTU leadership’s politics have options

By Mailee Smith, Vincent Caruso
01/30/2020
Leaders of Illinois’ largest local teachers’ union received swift blowback after their latest push into public politics. Members dissatisfied with the priorities of their union’s leadership deserve to know they have other options.

TAGS: Chicago, CPS: Chicago Public Schools, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, government unions, Jesse Sharkey, Kim Foxx, labor, Lori Lightfoot, Nicolas Maduro, opt out, public sector, Stacy Davis Gates, strike, Venezuela

State of the state: Pritzker saw worst first-year jobs numbers since Blagojevich

By Orphe Divounguy, Bryce Hill
01/27/2020
Illinois job creation lagged the national median in nearly every sector.

TAGS: 401(k), BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Chicago, constitutional amendment, economic competitiveness, economic growth, fair tax, government spending, graduated income tax, housing, housing market, IDES: Illinois Department of Employment Security, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, income, income growth, JB Pritzker, job creation, jobs, labor, labor force participation rate, outmigration, pensions, personal income, population, private sector, progressive income tax, public sector, retirement age, spending, spending cap, Springfield, tax burden, tax hikes, tax increase, U.S. Census Bureau, unemployment

Chicago area up 241K jobs, rest of Illinois down 41K jobs from before recession

By Austin Berg
01/21/2020
Illinois’ uneven recovery reflects national trends, but also raises important questions about the state’s economic future ahead of a key tax hike vote.

TAGS: BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, capital gains, Chicago, corporate income tax, economic competitiveness, economy, graduated income tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, investment, JB Pritzker, labor, minimum wage, outmigration, population, progressive income tax, real estate, recession, Springfield, tax hikes, tax increase

Illinois personal income growth 2nd lowest in U.S. since Great Recession

By Bryce Hill
01/09/2020
Only Mississippi has fared worse than Illinois in personal income growth since the Great Recession hit at the end of 2007. Analysis shows state income taxes matter.

TAGS: corporate income tax, flat tax, graduated income tax, Great Recession, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, income, income growth, income tax, JB Pritzker, labor, marginal tax, personal income, population, progressive income tax, recession, Springfield, tax burden

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Pension apocalypse? COVID-19 exposes long-running fragility of Illinois public pensions

Illinois’ pension crisis has been a growing problem for decades, and its negative effects on state residents are well documented.1 Economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and related government shutdown orders threaten to bring that long-running crisis closer to its breaking point. The state’s five pension systems collectively held nearly $139 billion of debt at...

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Joanne Troesch

Policy lessons from Illinois’ exodus of people and money

By J. Scott Moody, Wendy Warcholik
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CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016