by Emily Dietrich Imagine what Illinois will look like in 2050. The social and economic fabric of the country will definitely have changed. By then, the United States will have an additional 100 million people. Noted futurist and author Joel Kotkin has given this a lot of thought. Recently, he led a discussion at Illinois Policy Institute....
In a trend that continues to worsen, more Illinoisans found themselves unemployed in the month of July. Illinois lost more jobs during the month of July than any other state in the nation, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report. After losing 7,200 jobs in June, Illinois lost an additional 24,900 non-farm...
by Sameer Warraich Last week, Crain’s Chicago Business reported the results of recent research on the manufacturing performance of all 50 states. The study, by Ball State’s Center for Business and Economic Research, gave each state a grade based on criteria including manufacturing and logistics health, human capital, cost of benefits, global position and diversification of industries,...
by Amanda Griffin-Johnson This morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released May unemployment figures showing Illinois’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is up .1 percent to 8.9 percent in May as compared to 8.8 percent in April. The Chicago metropolitan area experienced a .4 percent increase in the same time frame to 8.9 percent in May, up from 8.5...
by Drew McKinley Last week the Illinois House passed HB1698, which attempted to reform Illinois’s broken workers’ compensation system. In the bill, the key mechanism for reducing spending is to cut payments to physicians and specialists by 30%. However, studies have shown that cutting reimbursements to physicians actually increases the cost of care. For example,...
by Drew McKinley As the Institute noted this week, Illinois is currently suffering from the thirdworst job loss rates in the nation. Also this week, the CME Group announced it was considering leaving Illinois. The corporate tax hike passed during the most recent lame-duck session of the state legislature is poised to cost the CME Group $50 million...
by Brian Costin A new study out by the Mercatus Center of George Mason University shows that Illinois ranks poorly when it comes to Freedom amongst the states. This study comprehensively ranks the American states on their public policies that affect individual freedoms in the economic, social, and personal spheres. Here’s Illinois’s rankings in each of the categories. 27/50 regulatory policy...
Over the past decade, only Michigan and Ohio had worse private sector job growth than Illinois. The Prairie State’s private sector job growth was down 7 percent. That means 363,100 jobs disappeared between April 2001 and April 2011 — that’s equivalent to disappearance of Delaware’s entire private work force.
by Mark Cavers Last week a Chief Executive Magazine survey of 556 CEOs ranked Illinois as the third worst place to do business in the United States. Put another way, over 500 of the leaders who are making company’s decisions on where to invest, hire more employees, and expand or contract operations would opt to go almost anywhere in...
by Mark Cavers Last week, Indiana’s Governor, Mitch Daniels, released a recap of the previous legislative session and touted a number of successes for the residents of Indiana. Here in Illinois, our legislators are now faced with many of the same opportunities that Indiana took advantage of over the past few months. Lets take a quick look...
by Brian Costin Is it wrong that we get excited about economics rap videos? As we continue to deal with the fallout of the “Great Recession” the debate over the proper role of government in the economy is increasingly being debated in the mainstream media. Two historical figures who are increasingly relevant in this debate are...
by Mark Cavers Chuck Sweeney of the Rockford Register Star reports that FatWallet.com, a Rockford company employing 50 workers, has signed a lease to move its headquarters three miles north to Beloit, Wisconsin. The company was prompted to move when the General Assembly passed the Amazon Tax in early January. This isn’t a surprising move, other online retailers...
by Brian Costin Cook County and the city of Chicago both share a dubious distinction: Both are in the top 10 most populous counties and cities in the U.S., and both are the only city and county in the top 10 to drop in population, according U.S. Census numbers released Thursday. See the Chicago Tribune story....
Illinois Senator Kimberly Lightford introduced legislation that would raise the minimum wage by 50 cents plus the rate of inflation annually until it reached the equivalent of $1.60 per hour in 1968.