In 2022 Illinois became the fifth state to pass a Constitutional Amendment protecting the rights of workers. Unlike other states, however, Illinois voters passed a ballot measure to create what is arguably the strongest constitutional provisions protecting collective bargaining in the country. PMCR presents two thought pieces on the Amendment. The first paper, by Professor […]
Welcome to our first fact sheet documenting strikes by union and nonunion workers across Illinois. These data are derived from the Labor Action Tracker, a project started in 2021 that comprehensively documents strike activity in the United States. As of January 2024, the Labor Action Tracker is a joint project between Cornell University’s School of […]
Bipartisan public approval of labor unions remains near historic highs. Data shows that unions boost workers earnings, expand health insurance coverage, and improve access to paid leave. Though the unionization rate fell nationally, the United States added union members in 2023 for the second consecutive year.The United States added 135,000 new union members in 2023, […]
The Child Tax Credit (CTC) underwent a significant transformation under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP-CTC) from July to December 2021, becoming a near-universal child allowance. The expanded CTC represented a significant milestone in US social policy, included increasing the maximum annual benefit size, making the benefit fully refundable, and converting the annual payment to […]
Union membership is influenced by a number of factors. For example, employment in the public sector still raises the chances that a given worker is a union member. Native-born and naturalized citizens are also statistically more likely to be union members than their non-citizen counterparts. On the other hand, workers employed in the leisure and […]
What if construction is the next manufacturing, with automation replacing hundreds of thousands of middle-class workers over the next generation? In the future, technological changes that displace human labor in the construction industry could have consequences for workers, families, and the U.S. economy. This report is a theoretical assessment of the potential economic impacts of […]
The importance of the construction trades and apprenticeship programs as a unique and unparalleled pathway into middle class job opportunities for non-college graduates, inspired the Project for Middle Class Renewal in the Labor Education Program (LEP) at the University of Illinois’ School of Labor and Employment Relations to invite building trades’ apprenticeship programs to participate […]
Construction workers who specialize in road and bridge infrastructure projects are productive, high-skilled, and well-paid in America’s “Great Lakes” region– which comprises Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin.