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...

Workers’ compensation is a significant cost to Illinois taxpayers and drains scarce tax dollars from government coffers. Political and business leaders often view workers’ compensation as a costly regulation that affects private-sector investment and employment in Illinois.[1] This description is accurate yet incomplete. The same heavy costs imposed on private-sector employers[2] are also imposed on...

The regulatory cost of doing business in Illinois remains the highest in the Midwest for workers’ compensation, according to the 2016 Oregon Workers’ Compensation Premium Rate Ranking study.[1] Illinois’ out-of-balance workers’ compensation laws contribute to the Land of Lincoln’s loss of industrial investment and blue-collar job opportunities. Illinois manufacturing firms often cite workers’ compensation as...

The state of Illinois has one of the oldest workers’ compensation systems in America, dating to 1911.