Eligibility

• Originally, the program was available to businesses in Illinois engaged in interstate or intrastate commerce that employed fewer than 50 employees (including employees in other states). The eligibility requirement was expanded in 2011 to include businesses of any size that hired worker-trainees in the Put Illinois To Work Program.
  
  

Tax Credit

• Most of the jobs created paid between $10 to $12 per hourNA/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  For businesses with fewer than 50 employees, the tax credit came to $2,500 per full time job created between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011; however, the job had to remain filled for a minimum of one year. That did not mean that the particular employee hired had to remain for one year, but rather the newly created position had to remain filled for one year.
  
  

Worker-Trainee Jobs

• Each worker-trainee employee had to remain employed for 1 yearHemera Technologies/Photos.com/Getty Images
  
  For businesses employing the worker-trainees, the employer received one-half of the tax credit, or $1,250, after the worker-trainee remained employed for 6 months. If the worker-trainee did not stay employed for the 6-month period, the employer did not get the tax credit. The employer was entitled to the other half of the tax credit if the employee remained employed one year after his hire date.
  
  

Minimum Wage Requirement

• Originally, the minimum wage rate limit for a newly created job was $13.75 per hour, but pursuant to the 2011 expansion, the minimum rate was lowered to $10 per hour, or $18,200 annually.
  
  

Other Restrictions

• Each job created had to be a full time job for a salaried position or a job requiring a minimum of 30 hours per week for an employee paid by the hour. It was not permitted to fill newly created jobs with someone who was previously employed by the company between Jan. 1, 2010 and June 30, 2010. However, companies could fill worker-trainees positions with someone who previously worked for the employer as long as he was in the Put Illinois To Work Program. The tax credit law barred the filling of any position with a person who had a direct or indirect ownership interest in the company entitling him to a minimum of 5 percent of the profits, capital or value of the business.
  
  

Outcome

• After the program ended, many $10 per hour employees took a pay cutCreatas/Creatas/Getty Images
  
  Approximately 27,000 people got jobs through the Put Illinois To Work Program; however, 90 percent of them were temporary.