Elect Steve Balich

Illinois’ anti-industry, anti-worker laws are thwarting the growth of blue-collar jobs and leaving blue-collar workers with lower wages and fewer opportunities. Good job opportunities in sectors such as manufacturing are disappearing from Illinois but growing in surrounding states. The status quo in Illinois simply isn’t working for those who need economic growth the most.

Much of the budget debate in Springfield revolves around whether the economic reforms put forth by Gov. Bruce Rauner will bolster the jobs and wages of Illinois’ middle- and lower-income workers. Rauner has maintained that economic reforms, including changes to the state’s lawsuit climate, workers’ compensation system and property taxes, are necessary to encourage economic growth and job creation. But Speaker Mike Madigan and his caucus have resisted reforms, claiming they are irrelevant to state budget negotiations and would harm the middle class.

The truth is that middle- and lower-income workers in Illinois are suffering because of the very status quo that Democratic politicians like Madigan are fighting to maintain.

Wage comparisons: Illinois vs. the rest of the Midwest

The average wage in Illinois ranks second among Illinois’ neighboring states and the Great Lakes states of Ohio and Michigan. Among these eight states, Illinois’ average wages are behind only Ohio’s. And Illinois has the third-highest average wage in the Midwest, which comprises Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

Illinois wage earners in the 10th percentile earn more than only 1 in 10 workers in Illinois, and less than 9 in 10 workers in Illinois. The 10th-percentile wage earner in Illinois makes $18,693 per year, after adjusting for the cost of living. These workers are the lowest-paid compared to their 10th-percentile counterparts in surrounding states; they are also the lowest-paid in the entire Midwest.

The boost to the state’s average wage provided by Illinois’ top earners can obscure the fact that Illinois’ bottom half of earners do poorly compared to their peers in surrounding states.

The bottom quarter of wage earners in Illinois are the worst off in the entire Midwest. Illinois’ anti-industry, anti-blue-collar-worker policies are regressive because they suppress job growth in blue-collar industries. Those who most need work opportunities in Illinois are least likely to find decent jobs. This helps explain Illinois residents’ skyrocketing enrollment in the food-stamps program, and the fact that the portion of Illinois’ population on food stamps is higher than that of any state in the region.

The industries in which Illinoisans fare worse than the rest of the Midwest are blue-collar. The analysis data will be discussed more completely in a future research report from the Illinois Policy Institute, but the initial results are startling. Workers in production, transportation and material moving, and health care support earn less in Illinois than in any other state in the Midwest. Food-preparation and -service workers in Illinois make less than their counterparts in every Midwestern state except Minnesota. These four blue-collar occupational categories account for more than one-quarter of all Illinois jobs. Their low wages and weak growth prospects are a disaster for blue-collar workers in the Land of Lincoln.

The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that the policies that drive out blue-collar industries – such as Illinois’ broken workers’ compensation system, anti-business lawsuit climate and skyrocketing property taxes, as well as the state’s cronyism and overall anti-business atmosphere – also drive down the wages and job prospects of low-income and blue-collar workers. Blue-collar job prospects in Illinois are dim, and blue-collar jobs created in Illinois don’t pay well.