Illinois’ Midwest-leading minimum wage increases again in January 2024

By Patrick Andriesen

12/28/2023

Non-tipped workers will see their hourly wage hit $14 an hour while tipped employees will collect $8.40 thanks to the next minimum wage hike on January 1, 2024.

Illinois’ occupational licenses make it easier for holiday burglars

By Dylan Sharkey

12/24/2023

Illinois’ burdensome licensing for security alarm installers discourage potential workers, potentially making Illinois an easier target for burglars such as the Grinch or the Wet Bandits from “Home Alone.”

Illinois holiday shoppers pay sales taxes as high as 11.5%

By Patrick Andriesen

12/22/2023

Sales taxes up to 11.5% will greet some Cook County shoppers this holiday season. Illinois averages 8.82% in sales taxes statewide, slightly more than last year and the seventh highest nationwide.

Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

By Dylan Sharkey

12/20/2023

This holiday season, nearly 2 million Illinoisans will rely on federal food assistance. Illinois is eighth in the country for highest reliance on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

TAGS: SNAP

Holiday travel expected to be second-busiest ever

By Dylan Sharkey

12/18/2023

Holiday travel this year is expected to be the second-busiest since AAA started tracking it in 2000. For Illinoisans, it means driving across a state line could avoid the nation’s second-highest gas taxes.

Illinois again seeing one of most-contested elections in 2 decades

By Joe Tabor, Perry Zhao

12/12/2023

Illinois politicians have worked hard to protect incumbent state lawmakers and discourage newcomers. But that is changing for the second election cycle in a row as more Illinoisans work to get into the Illinois General Assembly.

5 jobs Illinois imposes heaviest licensing burdens on

By Joe Tabor

12/04/2023

Employment is the clearest path out of poverty, but these five low-income professions face more occupational licensing burdens than others in Illinois.

Illinois’ excessive job licensing keeps Chicagoans in poverty

By Joe Tabor

12/01/2023

Occupational licensing is more burdensome in Illinois than in neighboring states for many professions. Those barriers are unreasonably keeping poor Illinoisans and Chicagoans from finding work.

TAGS: occupational licensing

Illinois licensing makes escaping poverty harder than in other Midwestern states

By Joe Tabor

11/27/2023

Illinois could make it easier to escape poverty by letting more people work without first getting a license. Six neighboring states do a better job of easing occupational licensing on low-income professions.

Midwestern United States

Common-ground solutions to empower Chicago’s poor: A model for America’s cities

Illinois’ Midwest-leading minimum wage increases again in January 2024

Illinois’ occupational licenses make it easier for holiday burglars

Illinois holiday shoppers pay sales taxes as high as 11.5%

Illinoisans rely on food stamps for Christmas dinner

Holiday travel expected to be second-busiest ever

Illinois again seeing one of most-contested elections in 2 decades

5 jobs Illinois imposes heaviest licensing burdens on

Illinois’ excessive job licensing keeps Chicagoans in poverty

Illinois licensing makes escaping poverty harder than in other Midwestern states

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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