The state of Illinois is seeking employees who don’t want a 40-hour workweek.
A cringey commercial you may have seen recently boasts that working for the state can mean five weeks off in your first year on the job, with flexible hours, a hybrid setup and good work-life balance, all while enjoying a 37.5-hour workweek.
This sounds like a sweet deal. Also one unavailable in most other full-time careers.
We know of course that some state workers toil long and hard at their jobs. Still, the state’s clueless ad leans into the worst critiques and caricatures of government work, maybe in an effort to appeal to a post-COVID-19 workforce that resents being called back to the office.
“What do you want from your career?” asks a voice at the start of the commercial. The faux potential recruits don’t then talk about their ambition or their desire to serve or to make Illinois better.
They talk about how much time off they want. Seriously? That’s the message?
We don’t take issue with people earning fair wages, getting breaks and having good benefits, but the commercial is tone-deaf. And it’s hard not to be miffed when you consider how state worker benefits compare with those the people paying taxes are getting.
An open administrative role for the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity pays up to $126,000 per year, and an open nurse position posted online in Elgin pays up to $102,000. Meanwhile, the median salary for all working Illinoisans is just $47,015. State workers also retire with better benefits than the average Illinoisan. The maximum annual Social Security benefit for those in the private sector retiring at 62 for 2023 was just $30,864, while the average starting pension for career workers participating in the State Employees’ Retirement System is $52,920 (many state workers also get Social Security for private work, and some have retired as early as 55).
Sure, it’s just a commercial. But as the state looks to lure more employees, it’s worth noting that Illinois government added 15,600 jobs, among the highest gains of any industry statewide, from December 2023 to December 2024, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Only the private education and health services sector (26,600-plus jobs) and local government (16,000-plus jobs) outpaced state government hiring.
Really great careers and really great benefits sound fantastic, but remember that unemployment in Illinois is 5.2%, the third-highest in the U.S. Without robust private-sector growth, it’s incredibly hard to justify a growing, highly compensated public sector. The rest of us pay for those great benefits, and most of us full-timers are clocking more than 37.5 hours a week.
Branding state work as an easy, cushy gig strikes a bitter chord with taxpayers, and it won’t do Springfield any favors with the people who foot the bill.
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