Policy Reports
Faculty conducts applied research to analyze workplaces, industries, worker organizations, and employment conditions for private sector clients and in partnership with community organizations.
Utilizing a variety of research techniques, including data collection and analysis, survey methods, and oral interviews, LEP contributes to both practical and scholarly understanding of issues facing workers and regional economic trends.
In 2025, the federal government increased tariffs—or taxes on items imported from other countries—to their highest level since the 1930s. The “effective tariff rate,” or revenue divided by imports, jumped from 3 percent to about 10 percent. After the U.S. Supreme Court struck down most of the hikes in February 2026, the Trump administration responded with a new 10 percent global tariff. While tariffs in some cases can protect American workers, research shows that at least 90 percent of their cost is passed onto U.S. consumers through higher prices.
Population stagnation in Illinois has been a perennial concern over the last 15 years. After gaining nearly a million and a half new residents between 1990 and 2010 due to robust international migration, labor force growth, higher birth rates, and suburban expansion, Illinois has had flat population growth since 2010. Demographic data show that the population stagnation in Illinois is driven by lower birth rates, increases in domestic out-migration to other states, and lower international migration – essentially a forestalling of the previous drivers of population growth.
Descriptive analysis of data on disability and employment for Illinois and neighboring states (Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin) from the American Community Survey (ACS) between the years of 2008 and 2024 was conducted to generate the following data digest. This analysis revealed insights into long-term trends in state-level differences regarding employment and labor market outcomes for individuals with disabilities in Illinois and its neighboring states.
The experience of job loss and re-employment typically focuses on the unemployed population, those who experience a job separation and are actively seeking work. However, a significant share of people who lose their jobs are not captured in the unemployed population, as they are not actively seeking work. Additionally, the share of people considered outside the labor force has steadily increased in the last three decades. This analysis considers all individuals who lose their jobs, not only the unemployed, to understand how the time to re-employment is shaped by an individual’s social position, specifically their household income (i.e., quartile) and the reason for their job loss.
Illinois has a public service workers shortage. This includes thousands of unfilled teaching positions at local school districts. Labor shortages have been linked to inadequate pay and benefits as well as other issues like burnout. One proposed solution has been to reform the two-tiered retirement system for state and local government workers—half of whom are not covered by Social Security, including Illinois’ teachers.
Adopting a Millionaires’ Tax in Illinois: Impacts on Property Taxes, Public Schools, and the Economy
Illinois has a tax system that requires working and middle-class families to pay higher shares of their incomes towards state and local taxes than high-income earners. State lawmakers have debated whether to amend the Illinois Constitution to allow for higher income taxes on annual net incomes over $1 million, with new revenues lock-boxed and dedicated specifically for property tax relief or for public education. Three-fifths of Illinois voters have said they would support a “millionaires’ tax” that funds property tax relief (61 percent) or local school districts (60 percent) in advisory referenda. This report evaluates how a potential millionaire’s tax could impact education funding, property taxes, and the Illinois economy.
The Employment Quality Illinois (EQ-IL) Index indicates that job quality in the state is good for many workers, better for others, even best for some, but still poor for too many. Using a survey sample of over 5,600 employed workers in Illinois, a composite index was constructed of job quality in the state. While workers report meaningful work and generally safe environments, persistent shortfalls remain in pay and stability, benefits coverage, advancement opportunities, work–life supports, and worker voice. Improving job quality in Illinois requires improvements across these subjective and objective dimensions rather than a narrow focus on wages alone.
Champaign County, Illinois, is facing a housing shortage that has caused home prices and rents to rise, leaving many families unable to find or afford housing. The median sales price of a home in Champaign County has increased by 14 percent over the past year and 44 percent of renters in the county are “costburdened,” spending 30 percent or more of their incomes on housing. Housing affordability has worsened in Champaign County, but the area remains more affordable than the rest of the United States.
As of July 2025:
- Champaign County’s average home value was $224,000, up 37 percent since 2019.
- Champaign County’s average rent was over $1,300 per month, up 41 percent since 2019.
- Both home values and rental rates are lower in Champaign County than the U.S. average ($360,000 and about $2,000 per month, respectively).
The Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR), based at the University of Illinois’ Labor Education Program, is dedicated to improving conditions for the working class. Our mission is to enhance public understanding of economic and worker issues through research, analysis, and education. We aim to develop policies that tackle poverty, ensure fair representation for all workers, combat discrimination based on gender, gender identity, sexuality, ability status, and race, to create stable employment opportunities, and promote middle-class wages. Each year, we release important research studies and host educational forums on labor and workplace issues.
While Illinois is better positioned to withstand a recession than at any point over the past two decades, federal funding cuts and freezes since the beginning of 2025 pose imminent threats to Illinois’ $1.2 trillion economy. Policy changes in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” budget reconciliation law, targeted freezes during the federal government shutdown from October to November 2025, and cuts and recissions in the name of “government efficiency” will make healthcare less affordable, take food assistance away from families, eliminate infrastructure projects, undermine the State’s ability to research new technologies and prevent infectious disease outbreaks, and cause unemployment to rise.