Illinois Workers’ Compensation Market at a Glance

In its annual report for FY 2014, dated June 16, 2015, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission shows the following:

• Illinois is one of the top 10 wage states, with wages that run 6 percent higher than the U.S. average. The average Illinois annual wage is $52,590 and the U.S. average is $49,808.
• Illinois has the most workers’ comp insurers of any state. The number of insurance companies writing workers’ comp policies in Illinois has grown 13 percent since 2006.
• Illinois insurers reported a 19 percent decrease in loss costs (benefit payments) from 2011 to 2015.
• Employers in Illinois are required by law to protect their employees by providing benefits for workers who are injured on the job. Illinois employers may purchase workers’ compensation insurance policies or self-insure for coverage for injured workers.
• Employers that are found to have knowingly and willfully failed to obtain insurance in Illinois may be fined up to $500 for every day of noncompliance by the IWCC, with a minimum fine of $10,000.
• The IWCC collected $1.9 million in fines from 216 employers uninsured for workers’ comp in FY2014.
• The average workers’ comp coverage rate for nonfederal workers in the United States is 97.1 percent. In Illinois, 99.8 percent of workers are covered. Workers’ comp coverage rates in nearby states are: Indiana – 99.5 percent; Iowa – 99.1 percent; Wisconsin – 97.1 percent; Michigan – 97.0 percent and Missouri – 95.4 percent.
• The injury rate for workers in Illinois is 3,201 per 100,000 workers. Countrywide, the average is 3,491 per 100,000 workers.
• With a median rate index of 2.35 per $100 of payroll Illinois, has the seventh highest average workers’ comp premium rate of all U.S. states, according to the 2014 Oregon Workers’ Compensation Premium Ranking Study. The national median index rate is 1.85 per $100 of payroll. In 2010, Illinois had the third highest average premium rate.