In his budget address on Wednesday, Gov. Quinn touted the number of jobs that have been created during the past two years. The governor would have you believe that Illinois’ job crisis is over. But that’s far from the truth. As today’s labor release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows, Illinois’ unemployment rate jumped...
As Gov. Pat Quinn delivers his fifth annual budget proposal today, it’s important to review the governor’s track record and what his policies have meant for Illinois. When Quinn took office in 2009, Illinois was reeling from former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his culture of deficits and corruption. The state’s fiscal condition was a shaky...
Another 35,000 added to unemployment in February
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, or BEA, announced today that Illinois ranked 42nd in personal income growth in 2012.
In the game of state competitiveness, Illinois lags the nation. Poor policy decisions continue to sap economic activity and ruin opportunities for businesses operating in Illinois.
Job growth is also anemic in the state. Illinois added 12,400 jobs last month. Thats a growth rate of only 0.2 percent from the previous month.
Both Gov. Pat Quinn and President Barack Obama called for an increase in the minimum wage when they made their respective State of the State and State of the Union speeches.
In Gov. Pat Quinns State of the State address, he said, In our Illinois, small business means big business. Driving economic growth for small businesses requires doing all we can to make sure government is not in the way.
The Illinois Policy Institute has long warned that Illinois high-tax environment hurts the states economy. Prior to the 2011 income tax hike, we sounded the alarm that higher taxes would cause people and businesses to leave the state.
Economy shrinks for first time since recession ends
Illinois Policy Institute’s Vice President of Policy, Ted Dabrowski, joined Varney & Co. on Fox Business to discuss poverty in Illinois — one in three residents lives at or near poverty.
Legislation to temporarily avoid the fiscal cliff was supposed to be a move toward comprehensive tax reform. It was the opposite. The deal included dozens of corporate tax breaks that will cost taxpayers billions.
Illinois’ unemployment fell to 8.7 percent in November from 8.8 percent in October, adding 16,400 new payroll jobs. Despite this small decrease in the unemployment rate, Illinois is still a full percentage point above the national unemployment average of 7.7 percent, and 1.6 percentage points higher than the average of its neighboring states. That fact –...
Michigan is now the 24th state to give individuals the right not to join a union through Right-to-Work legislation. Individual liberty is an important dimension of economic freedom and an essential component of a well-functioning market economy. When individuals are limited in their ability to contract, or sell one’s labor services, economic activity and quality...