Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. A recent report by the Tax Foundation showed the real value of $100 in each state, based … Continue reading Wages are Higher in Illinois Even After Accounting for the Cost of Living
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at http://www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. Recently released data illustrates the strongly positive relationship between unionization and productivity in the construction industry. … Continue reading Unions Increase Productivity in the Construction Industry
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI.
CHICAGO- A new study released today finds that labor unions play a vital role in Illinois’ communities and economy, but face major challenges. The study, The State of the Unions 2015: A Profile of Unionization in Chicago, in Illinois, and in America [PDF] was conducted by researchers at the University of Illinois (Robert Bruno, PhD), the University of Chicago (Virginia Parks, PhD), and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (Frank Manzo IV, MPP).
Since 2005, union membership in Illinois has declined by approximately 97,000 workers, contributing to the 1.12 million drop in union members across the nation. Declining unionization in Illinois has primarily been the result of decreases in male, Latino/a, and private sector unionization.
However, there has been some good news for those in the Illinois labor movement. From 2012 to 2014, the state’s unionization rate increased from 14.6 percent to 15.1 percent, and total union membership increased by about 30,000 workers. Continue reading “Study – Union Power in Illinois is Significant, but Waning”
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at http://www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. “Right-to-work” laws have the largest negative impacts on construction workers, according to a new ILEPI Economic … Continue reading Construction Workers Are the Major Victims of Right-to-Work Laws
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at http://www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. Efforts to create local “right-to-work” zones would have negative impacts on workers and the economy in … Continue reading Local Right-to-Work Zones Would Weaken the Illinois Economy
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI.
Today the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) released A Turnaround or a Turn Aground? Fact Checking Governor Rauner’s First Claims (PDF). The report evaluates statements made by new Governor Bruce Rauner during his first month in office. Governor Rauner’s ambitious policy agenda aims to fix Illinois’ fiscal crisis mainly through a constitutional amendment on public sector pensions, changes to the state’s tax code, and adjustments to the state’s labor laws– including banning political contributions from certain labor unions and implementing local right-to-work laws which reduce the power of unions. Would his proposals, if enacted, accomplish his goal of making Illinois a “competitive” and “compassionate” state? Are his policy proposals supported by evidence and fact? Of the eleven claims analyzed, ILEPI finds that:
A summary of the fact check is below:
ONLY HALF TRUE: Illinois Job Creation Lags Behind Neighboring States
Rauner’s numbers are misleading and may be out of date. While the Illinois labor market has lagged slightly behind the economies of neighboring states, the actual disparity is much smaller than Rauner suggests. The largest year-over-year unemployment rate decline in America occurred in Illinois, where the unemployment rate fell by 2.7 percentage points. Using correct payroll data, this claim is found to be only half true.
FALSE: Illinois is Currently a Bad Place to Do Business
Outcomes matter. Rauner uses rankings of corporate executives to suggest that Illinois is a terrible place to do business, but the claims have no predictive power of a state’s unemployment rate and are negatively correlated with average wages in a state. A good state for business should be statistically related to lower unemployment and higher worker wages. The appropriate policy is to attract high-road employers with sound infrastructure and a skilled workforce. After completing the rest of the story, the claim that Illinois is a bad state in which to do business is found to be false.
TRUE: Raising the Minimum Wage to $10.00 Will Increase Earnings
To generate full economic benefits, the minimum wage should be expanded to cover employers with 2 or more employees, indexed to the chained-Consumer Price Index, paired with an expansion of the state’s Earned Income Tax Credit, and be applicable to workers in their first 90 days of employment. Without these additions to the new minimum wage law, this claim will only be half true. With meaningful change, this claim is found to be true.
FALSE: Right-to-Work Would Help Workers in Illinois Continue reading “Fact Checking Governor Rauner”
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. This post is a response to an article written by Stan Greer of the National Institute for Labor Relations Research on February 10, 2014. The article “reported” (for lack of a better term) on a recent study conducted jointly by ILEPI and the University of Illinois. For reference, our study, Which Labor Market Institutions Reduce Income Inequality? Labor Unions, Prevailing Wage Laws, and Right-to-Work Laws in the Construction Industry can be found here [PDF] and an accompanying Illinois Insights Blog post … Continue reading On the Fallacious Argument of One Right-to-Work Advocate
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI. “Today, after four years of economic growth… average wages have barely budged. Inequality has deepened. Upward mobility has stalled. The cold, hard fact is that even in the midst of recovery, too many Americans are working more than ever just to get by – let alone get ahead.” –President Obama in the State of the Union Address, 2014. Across the country, states and localities can respond to the President’s call to action and grow wages, create jobs, and reduce … Continue reading Income Inequality is Fixable in Construction
Frank Manzo IV is the Policy Director of the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI). Visit ILEPI at www.illinoisepi.org or follow ILEPI on Twitter @illinoisEPI.
Right-to-work has not worked in Indiana.
Nationwide, the unemployment rate has steadily ticked down and is nearing 7 percent. Last year, over 40,000 more business establishments opened than closed across America. The total number of Americans with a job is up almost 2 percent since February 2012. Employers are starting to hire again and consumer demand is slowly rising.
And with the passage of a right-to-work law on February 1, 2012 (which proponents claimed would attract businesses and create jobs), the Indiana economy has been spearheading the economic recovery, right?
Wrong.
An October 16, 2013 study (LINK) by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI), a new research and policy nonprofit, assessed right-to-work’s economic track record in Indiana thus far. Since the law went into effect, 779 more businesses have closed than have opened in Indiana, the unemployment rate has not fallen, and the total number of Indiana residents with a job has declined by 0.4 percent.
The verdict? So far the promises made by right-to-work’s supporters in Indiana have nearly all been broken.
The problem: Right-to-work is a nonfactor as an economic development incentive.
Despite claims that right-to-work entices new businesses to open up in a particular state, survey after survey of corporate executives reports that the policy is not a prevailing factor in whether a firm will locate to a state. Additionally, by limiting collective bargaining units, right-to-work laws act to take away an effective front-end solution for small businesses to hire, train, drug-test, and provide health insurance to workers. Unions have long provided these services to businesses and absorbed the costs through dues and fees. Under right-to-work, these costs shift to small businesses. Finally, right-to-work has been found to lower worker wages by around 3 percent annually. With lower incomes, workers have less money to spend. Why would a private business want to relocate to a state where consumer demand for its product or service is diminished? Continue reading “Right-to-Work’s Broken Promises”
The Illinois Update 