Illinois

Illinois’ workforce hits new low in August, and it’s not because of retirements

By Michael Lucci
09/18/2014
Illinois continues to bleed workers, with another 19,000 Illinoisans dropping out of the workforce in the month of August alone, according to a press release from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. As a result, Illinois’ labor force participation rate hit a new 35-year low in August. The state’s jobless rate fell from...

TAGS: labor

Chicago takes pole position in race for Obama library, no tax dollars required

By Jane McEnaney
09/16/2014
On Sept. 15, the Barack Obama Foundation announced four semifinalists in the battle to build Barack Obama’s presidential library and museum. The four potential host sites include the University of Chicago, the University of Illinois at Chicago, Columbia University in New York City and the University of Hawaii. Holding two of the four slots, the...

TAGS: Barack Obama, library, Obama presidential library, taxes

Food-stamp enrollment in Illinois outpaces job creation by nearly 2-to-1

By Michael Lucci
09/16/2014
Illinois’ sluggish jobs recovery is coming at a tremendous cost. For every post-recession job created in Illinois, nearly two people have enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. In the recession era, the number of Illinoisans dependent on food stamps has risen by 745,000. Without adequate job creation in the...

TAGS: SNAP

The disappearance of Illinois’ manufacturing jobs

By Michael Lucci
09/15/2014
Illinois’ manufacturing sector has been hemorrhaging jobs for decades, and policy has a lot to do with it. Since 2004, Illinois has lost 125,000 manufacturing jobs. Most of these losses resulted from the Great Recession – a colossal 117,000 manufacturing jobs were shed from January 2008-January 2010 – but precious few have returned. In the...

TAGS: jobs

Illinois school districts seeking 14 countywide sales tax hikes in November

By Brian Costin
09/12/2014
School districts in 14 Illinois counties are pushing for countywide increases in sales tax rates. These counties are utilizing the 2007 Illinois County School Facility Tax Act, or ICSFTA, which allows school boards representing 51 percent of a county’s population to put a referendum on the ballot for a countywide sales tax increase to fund...

TAGS: education, sales tax

Good politics makes bad policy on Emanuel minimum-wage hike

By Jane McEnaney
09/12/2014
On Sept. 3, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel signed an executive order requiring city contractors to immediately hike wages for the city workers they employ to $13 per hour from the current rate of $11.93 per hour. The current rate is already nearly 45 percent higher than the statewide minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. Illinoisans...

TAGS: Chicago, minimum wage, Rahm Emanuel

Illinois Medicaid redetermination increasingly important to control costs

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/10/2014
The proportion of Illinois Medicaid enrollees found to be ineligible remains high, according to the state’s Medicaid Redetermination Project Quarterly Report for the second quarter of 2014. But here’s the kicker: The state will end up paying for more and more of them, regardless of eligibility. According to the report, 55 percent of the reviewed...
Load More

Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

View Report

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016