While equitable funding of K-12 public school has become an acute issue in many states, Illinois ranks among the most inequitable in its mechanisms for dispersing revenues to school districts. Illinois property taxes are the primary means for financing schools. However, due to very low state general aid, many property owners pay very high property […]
As in nearly every state and region in the United States, the healthcare sector has become an important driver of the local economy both within the Chicago region and throughout the state of Illinois. Across the long cycle of declining employment levels in traditional industries like manufacturing and the shorter cycles of recession and recovery […]
On December 2, 2014, the Chicago City Council voted 44 to 5 in favor of gradually raising the minimum wage to $13.00 per hour in the city to increase earnings for 410,000 Chicago workers. This report finds that in its first two years– when the minimum wage increased to $10.00 an hour and subsequently to […]
Despite its pervasiveness in debates over the future of work, defining the “gig economy” in a consistent and meaningful fashion remains a challenge. This challenge hinders research to understand the prevalence and effects of nonstandard work, as well as efforts to design policy to improve opportunities for nonstandard workers. While contending with fundamental limitations in […]
Over recent years, the hollowing out of the American middle class has been a topic of much speculation and concern. During the middle of the twentieth century, the middle class rose to a position of economic and demographic dominance. The question of whether this is no longer the case is closely related to the issue […]