A new study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute reports that extending paid sick leave to all workers in the state of Illinois would increase employment by increasing worker productivity and spending while improving worker health, and, by extension, the health of their families by preventing the spread of the Covid-19 virus:
If Illinois were to join 35 other U.S. states, cities, and counties in guaranteeing at least a week of paid sick leave to all workers, the state would improve its ability to contain the spread of infectious disease, create more jobs, and raise incomes for more than 1.5 million Illinois workers by an average of $1,040 per year, according to new research from the Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI).
In addition to the results of the study there is already strong evidence that this is the case from looking at how Chicago’s 2017 enactment of paid sick leave has affected employment there. Study co-author, PMCR Director, and UIUC Professor Dr. Robert Bruno states that:
This conclusion is also supported by the recent experience of Chicago, where job growth has far exceeded the rest of Illinois in the 30 months since the city enacted its paid sick leave ordinance.
Their press release sums up their findings this way:
As Illinois works to address the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic that is costing the state’s workforce as much as $1.5 billion in income every week and is expected to cost the state 207,000 jobs by summer, researchers noted that elected officials may need to consider a range of options to stem the short-term effects of the crisis and reduce longer-term risks.
“The extraordinary measures now being taken to protect the public and shore up our economy have exposed vulnerabilities that should help inform a comprehensive policy response,” said study co-author and ILEPI researcher Jill Gigstad. “Temporary extensions to unemployment benefits for workers and zero-interest loans for small businesses will surely be critical in the short term, but the long-term choice on enacting a paid sick leave law is really about making sure we are better prepared for these types of disruptions in the future.”
And this is what we see again and again — treating people with respect and dignity leads to superior outcomes, if only because this literally is a consumer economy. By the same token, then, prioritizing the cronyism and self-dealing that has come to define the Republican Party leads to economic decline and ultimately collapse.