Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund Adds $2.1 Billion to Illinois Economy in 2023

The Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund’s $1.5 billion in payments to participants living in Illinois in 2023 had a $2.1 billion impact on the state’s economy and supported more than 11,500 jobs, according to its 2024 Economic Impact Statement.

The report found that each dollar it paid out in pension benefits generated $1.40 in economic activity for the state.

“We are proud to serve as an economic engine for the growth of our community and state,” CTPF Executive Director Carlton Lenoir said in a statement. “Our members are active and important members of their individual communities, and this report helps illustrate the impact they make throughout Illinois.”

The report, released annually by the $12.1 billion pension fund, calculates the CTPF’s impact on the state of Illinois and its largest city, Chicago, and includes data on economic impact by legislative district and city ward in Chicago. To assess the economic impact, the report uses standard economic multipliers supplied by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis to measure the direct and indirect effect of payments made to the pension fund’s annuitants.

According to the report, 82% of the fund’s annuitants who collect a pension remain in the state, with nearly half of them residing in Chicago. Those Chicago-based annuitants received $742 million in pension benefits in 2023, which resulted in approximately $1 billion in total economic impact and supported nearly 5,800 jobs in the city, the report stated.

The pension fund boasts that it leads its peers with $5.9 billion, or 49.3% of its total assets, invested with minority, women, and disadvantaged-owned business enterprises for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2023. It also said its assets in the firms have increased by more than 3,000% since it first began tracking the data in the early 1990s.

The report also said that approximately $2.2 billion, or 18.7%, of the pension fund’s investment portfolio was invested with Illinois-based investment managers.

“These investments pay dividends for our members and yield excellent overall long-term returns and financial stability for our members,” Lenoir said in the report. “Nearly 20% of those assets are invested with and directly support managers here in Illinois, providing vital opportunity for MWDBE firms and our fund.”