The Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) has unveiled the results of a study by researchers at the Alpaugh Family Economics Center at the University of Cincinnati examining the economic impact of the retail industry in Illinois, which found retail directly contributes more than $112 billion in economic investment annually – more than 10 percent of the state’s total Gross Domestic Product.
The analysis, the first of its kind in Illinois history, also found the retail sector is the state’s largest private sector employer, with 1.3 million people working in retail – representing one out of every four workers in Illinois. Retail helps generate $7.3 billion income and sales tax revenue each year, which supports public safety, infrastructure, education and other important programs. All told, retail is the second largest revenue generator for the State of Illinois and the largest revenue generator for local governments.
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