New study shows Illinois may lose 86,000 jobs due to Trump cuts

By the end of President Trump’s term, the current wave of project cancellations, funding cuts, mass federal firings, and cuts to public health, nutrition, infrastructure, education, and other programs will shrink Illinois’ economy by $10 billion per year and result in the loss of 86,000 jobs.

This is according to a new report from the nonpartisan Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 

The report also finds that these program cuts will cause hundreds of thousands of Illinois residents to lose access to health insurance coverage and food assistance, while shrinking state revenues by more than $1 billion per year.

In addition to the loss of jobs and shrinking the economy, the report finds that the Trump cuts will hit the poorest Illinoisans the hardest. Their analysis shows that at least 270,000 Illinois residents will lose Medicaid coverage, another 216,000 will lose access to food stamps, and at least 100,000 will lose their health coverage under the ACA.  At the same time, the average family’s energy bills will increase by up to $186 per year in the next five years.

AFSCME members are on the job every day to make sure that the residents of our state have access to the services they need, but Trump’s cuts are already destabilizing state finances and making it more difficult for AFSCME members to provide the public services that Illinoisans rely upon. 

Meanwhile, because of the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill, billionaires are getting enormous tax cuts at the expense of public services and the poorest Americans. AFSCME is fighting these billionaire-backed budget cuts in the courts and pressing for change in Congress.