US jobs report spells more bad news for Illinois

The US economy created only 88,000 jobs in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market was expecting approximately 200,000 new payroll jobs.

Ted Dabrowski
Vice President of Policy

In what bodes poorly for Illinois job creation, the U.S. economy created only 88,000 jobs in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The market was expecting approximately 200,000 new payroll jobs.

During the past 12 months, job creation nationally averaged just 169,000, far short of the 250,000-plus jobs necessary to significantly reduce the unemployment rate from the national average of 7.6 percent.

And even more worrisome, the number of Americans considered still in the labor force tumbled by 496,000. The U.S. labor participation rate, at 63.3 percent, fell to its lowest level since 1979.

The job market is still falling far short of predictions made by the Obama economic team back in 2009. Thanks to the $800 billion stimulus, the unemployment rate was supposed to have dropped to 5.1% by now.

Nationally, many pundits will blame the sequester for the poor labor numbers, and it won?t be surprising to see Illinois politicians and the Illinois Department of Employment Security do the same.

But Illinois? unemployment rate, which is shockingly higher than that of its neighbors and the national average, has little to do with the sequester or the policies coming out of Washington, D.C.