A new report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security shows Illinois had a modest net gain of 2,400 jobs in May, but still has fewer jobs today than before the Great Recession began.
1,120 of the jobs lost were in manufacturing and food processing.
Compared with Illinois’ pre-recession average, permits for new single-family and multiunit housing are down more than 60 percent.
Sears Holdings has dropped below the job threshold necessary to qualify for the $15 million in annual state tax credits for which it was once eligible.
Illinois’ total state economic activity has increased by only 4 percent since 2007, which is lower than the U.S.’ 10 percent GDP growth during the worst decade of the Great Depression.
Although Illinois hosts corporate headquarters of many large companies, its economy lags in blue-collar job opportunities.
Lawmakers’ proposed new and higher taxes would only make things harder for struggling Illinoisans.
Despite Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s spin, residents are fleeing Chicago, showing they feel they are better off elsewhere.
House Bill 3293, which would force any person or group that is not a school district, religious organization or transportation company, but that possesses a school bus, to change the appearance of the school bus, passed the Illinois General Assembly on the last day of spring session.
Middle class families are unwilling to live in a city where there aren’t enough jobs and the cost of living is too high.
The General Assembly hasn’t made significant traction on a balanced budget before session ends, but the Illinois Senate had time May 30 to pass a bill regulating trampoline safety.
March 2017 saw 15,000 more Illinoisans on food stamps than March 2016, while the number of Indiana SNAP recipients dropped from March 2016 to March 2017.
While major headlines broke over news that Chicago was the only one of America’s largest 20 cities to shrink from July 2015 to July 2016, most of Illinois’ other cities with 50,000 people or more also lost population.
Illinois lost 195,000 more college-bound students than it gained from 2000-2014.