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...

More than 6,000 Illinois manufacturing jobs disappeared in 2015.

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...

Illinois’ out-migration of younger workers should concern lawmakers and urge them to pass pro-growth reforms.

Illinois’ 2011 income-tax hike caused out-migration that cost the state high-earning taxpayers. New IRS data show taxpayers who left had an average income of $77,000 per year, compared with taxpayers who entered Illinois, who had an average income of $57,000 per year.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has ordered executive agencies to review all their regulations for necessity, clarity and statutory authority and to mark for repeal or revision rules that don’t meet those criteria.

Illinois ranks as the top pumpkin producer in the country, which isn’t much of a consolation given the state’s poor performance in almost every economic category.