We’ve reported several times how hard Illinoisans have had it in recent years, especially when it comes to work. Illinois currently has the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate. Jobs are less plentiful today than when Gov. Pritzker took office, down by nearly 150,000 (see appendix). Not to mention Illinoisans had to endure some of the most draconian Covid lockdowns in the country, a doubling of gas taxes, nasty inflation, and more.
So it can’t be ignored when Illinois lawmakers vote themselves a massive pay increase and expect their struggling constituents to pay for it. In yet another lame duck, partisan line vote, Democratic lawmakers in both houses voted to boost legislative salaries by nearly $12,000. That near 17 percent increase pushes up pay for part-time lawmaker work to $85,000.
Illinois lawmakers were already the nation’s fifth-highest paid legislators in 2022. The $12,000 increase will raise that to the 4th-highest.
In contrast, earnings for ordinary Illinois workers were basically flat from 2019 to 2021 when taking inflation into account. The median annual earnings for Illinoisans was only $41,504 in 2021, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Worker pay is even lower in many areas of the state. Take worker pay in Rockford, where median earnings were just over $30,000 in 2021. The earnings are similar in towns like Peoria, Decatur, and Cicero.
Even in Chicago, median earnings are just $43,000.
Illinois lawmakers, meanwhile, aren’t struggling with inflation. Their latest extra pay increase comes on top of the automatic annual cost-of-living raises lawmakers began giving themselves again in 2019.
And base salaries are only a part of lawmaker compensation. There’s $11,000 to $30,000 stipends for lawmakers in committee and leadership positions, additional per diem payments, subsidized health insurance, and, of course, guaranteed lifetime pensions.
It’s a perfect illustration of the two-class system at work in Illinois. Lawmakers vote themselves guaranteed raises on top of their guaranteed pensions, while forcing private sector workers, who don’t make nearly as much nor have any such guarantees, to pay for them.
But just looking at Illinois’ record, state lawmakers don’t deserve a raise. They deserve a cut – or worse. Nothing done on pensions, property taxes, out-migration and plenty bad done on schools, crime, business climate, and more.
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