Jobs + Growth Archives - Page 61 of 147

Job Creation Since 2000

by Kate Piercy Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy of the Mercatus Center uses data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to compare net job creation since 2000. Check out the chart below.

Great Depression…I Mean, Recession.

by Ashley Muchow Depression. Great Recession. Trough. We’ve heard it all in reference to the struggling state of the U.S. economy. President Barack Obama has insisted his policy moves and $787 billion-plus spending initiatives staved off a second Great Depression. The National Bureau of Economic Research declared late last month that the recession ended in June of 2009, after less...

Cartoon Blogging – Quinn reviving Illinois

by Ashley Muchow Check out this cartoon from Scott Stantis of the Chicago Tribune illustrating Quinn’s far-fetched claims to revive Illinois. Shouldn’t rescue consist of less digging?

Private Employment Bearing the Brunt of the Burden

by Ashley Muchow The Mercatus Center released a longitudinal illustration of the changes in employment from 2001 to 2009. In 2009, private sector employment undoubtedly got the short end of the stick–losing nearly 6 million jobs, while government and federal employment numbers managed to increase. Now we all know the economy has been hit hard in recent years and...

Find the Government Worker

This editorial cartoon from the USA Today in 2009 reminded me of current day Illinois. Tough times for everyone, except for those who work for the government. Recently, Gov. Quinn signed a contract handing out 7 percent pay raises, a two-year “no layoff” guarantee, a pledge to close no branches, plus another round of...

Government Pay Outpaces Private Sector

by Kate Piercy Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy provides a chart showing the changes in federal and private annual wages this decade: Her research shows: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, from 2001 to 2009 average annual private pay grew by 24.9%, total government pay grew by 30.1%, and federal pay...

States with Business-Friendly Policies Growing

by Wesley Fox Over the last decade, Americans have steadily moved to states with lower taxes and fewer regulations on businesses. The population of business-friendly states such as Texas, Florida, and Utah has increased significantly. In fact, all three are expected to gain seats in the Congress after they are reapportioned. According to a recent...

Illinois Poverty Level Up 24% Since 1999

by Brian Costin According to the 2009 American Community Survey, “The poverty level in Illinois increased 24 percent over the past decade — to 13.3 percent in 2009, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau this morning.” How could this be? While the overall economy is bad, are our policies contributing to increased poverty...

Voters Prefer Free Market Over Government Management

by Kate Piercy A recent poll from Rasmussen Reports shows “seventy-five percent (75%) of voters prefer free markets over a government managed economy.” Although this was a national poll, Illinois candidates would do well to listen to this consistent theme coming from the voices of voters across the country as well asthose in Illinois. Want some ideas?...

A Pledge to Illinois

by Kristina Rasmussen Republicans in Congress unveiled their “Pledge to America,” which seeks to limit taxes and spending, among other things. You can read the full text below. How about a Pledge to Illinois? Some great policy ideas to consider: A budget balanced without a tax hike. A Constitutional cap to limit spending growth. An overhaul of job-killing regulations. A 3/5 super-majority requirement for...

43 Percent Say Government Programs Increase Poverty in America

by Kate Piercy Interesting poll results from Rasmussen Reports: A plurality of Americans (43%) believe that government programs increase poverty in America. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 22% of the nation’s adults believe that those programs decrease poverty. Twenty-three percent (23%) say they have no impact. There is a fundamental difference...

Charting the Illinois Exodus

by Ashley Muchow Check it out! The Tax Foundation released a nifty interactive tool showing state-to-state migration data for a range of years between 1993 and 2008. The tool tracks the flow of both people and their income based on IRS tax return data. You can select any state and track the net inflows and outflows to and from...

Good and Bad Incentives

by Ashley Muchow Robert Barro, in his most recent WSJ article, takes note of various logical shortcomings in the Obama administration’s economic agenda. Rather than focus on the supply-side rationale of creating incentives that stimulate both supply and demand—thus yielding sustained economic growth—the Obama administration has ignored the breadth of supply-side manifestations in the policy measures it...

Entitlements Rise as Americans Paying Taxes Decrease

by Ashley Muchow Two trends have taken off in recent years—a rising number of entitlement recipients and a drop in the number of Americans paying taxes. Both highlight the unfortunate drift towards mounting wealth redistribution and big government. Sara Murray fleshed out these two trends in today’s WSJ. Government data [doesn’t] show how many of the households...