Illinois wage inequities improve slightly, persist despite transparency efforts: report

Wage inequities persist in Illinois’ workforce, although data suggests the state, on average, is doing better than others, according to a new report from the University of Illinois.

The gender wage gap appears to have moderately improved from 2021 to 2023, the period studied in the report, although racial wage gaps stagnated, researchers’ analysis of Department of Labor data suggests. The widest gaps for both categories are in lower-wage and craft occupations.

Private employers with 100 or more Illinois-based employees are mandated to submit biannual reports with wage and demographic data to the department under a 2021 amendment to Illinois’ 2003 Equal Pay Act.

This report is based on the first three years of data, 2021-2023, and includes information on 3.2 million employees at over 4,000 firms.

Findings show that women earn about 91-93 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, while Black and Hispanic workers each earn 6-10% less than comparable white workers.

A regional analysis also showed smaller gender wage gaps in Cook County, but wider disparities in the downstate region.

Illinois appears to be performing better than the national median, according to the researchers’ seminar presentation on Wednesday, Jan. 14. But they warned that methodological differences make comparison difficult.

The law also doesn’t require government agencies and Illinois businesses with fewer than 50 employees to report, which could affect the results.

“If we expand the reporting coverage, we’re going to include a lot of smaller businesses that could potentially widen the gap. That’s one of our hypotheses,” Dr. Tingting Zhang, a contributing researcher said at the seminar. Zhang is an Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois’ School of Labor and Employment Relations.

Recommendations

The researchers issued recommendations for further study, including establishing interagency data coordination and expanding reporting coverage to get a complete picture of wage equity in Illinois.

“If you want to have policy that’s going to be impactful, here’s a way to get better data and the overall outcome. If you’re thinking about fairness, if you’re thinking about equity, you’re thinking about employers who attract and retain quality employees, then expanding the data set would be a good idea,” Dr. Robert Bruno, director of the U of I’s Project for Middle Class Renewal said.

Bruno said it would ultimately be up to the DOL to “figure out the logistics” of expanding the scope of the law to collect better data. But he added, “we stand ready to help with doing that based on other research.”

Expanding the mandated reporting coverage would require another amendment to the law, due to the language within the current legislation, but the DOL does coordinate the enforcement of the EPA.

“We do not want to be punitive. We’d rather bring you into compliance than be punitive under the law,” Jason Keller, assistant director of the labor department, said. “We can’t provide legal advice, but we will do our best to tell you where our boundaries are and what we can advise and what we can’t, so we encourage employers to reach out to us.”

Zhang and Bruno also recommended developing self-audit and public dashboard tools for employer use, targeting enforcement at the most disparate industries, and streamlining reporting guidance to address recurring report issues like inconsistent job titles and implausible wages and hours.

“Illinois’ EPA (Equal Pay Act) reporting system offers a unique and valuable lens through which to study pay disparities within individual workplaces, yielding insights that are not available through broader labor market surveys,” the report states. “Continued progress will require refinements to data collection, broader employer participation, and expanded access to self-assessment tools.”

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