Earlier this month, Caterpillar Inc. announced an additional 300 employees will be laid off at the Decatur plant. The latest layoffs would take effect in July. The announcement comes a month after the manufacturer said 460 workers would lose their jobs effective in June. Unemployment in the Decatur metro area is 11.8 percent. Illinois has the...
by Ted Dabrowski Illinois has the nation’s second-worst unemployment rate. At 9.5 percent, it’s two percentage points higher than the national average of 7.5 percent. That gap translates into lost opportunities and struggle for the many Illinoisans who wish to be gainfully employed. Nearly 130,000 more Illinoisans could be working today if Illinois employed people at the...
by Ted Dabrowski Illinois politicians can’t hide from their decade-long policy failures. Jobs are scarce, as evidenced by the state’s 9.5 percent unemployment rate. That’s second worst in the nation, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s finances are in shambles and Illinois now pays the highest penalty rate for borrowing when compared to other states....
Ted Dabrowski John Klingner The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the national unemployment rate declined to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 165,000 in April, up from a revised 138,000 payroll jobs in March. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics This amount of job creation...
Sunshine State offers Illinois businesses a brighter future
The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced today that the Illinois unemployment rate remained at 9.5 percent in March. Three months ago it was 8.6 percent.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry wrote a letter to businesses in Illinois, offering them a way to escape the states dire fiscal mess and punishing business climate move to Texas.
The study, drawing upon data from more than 7,000 small business owners, provides new insights into state and local business environments across the nation.
Caterpillar Inc., one of the dozens of companies to receive special tax breaks after Illinois record 2011 income tax hike, recently announced plans to lay off more than 460 employees this June at its plant in Decatur.
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.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia announced that Illinois is one of two states that experienced economic decline during the past three months
The latest BLS unemployment release once again highlights how poorly Illinois is faring compared with its neighbors and the nation as a whole. Illinois’ January unemployment rate jumped to 9 percent, a 0.4 percent increase over December’s rate. Illinois now has the seventh-highest unemployment rate in the nation, with nearly 600,000 Illinoisans unemployed. Meanwhile, the...
Illinois already has the fourth-highest minimum wage in the nation and is one of 19 states with a minimum wage higher than the federal rate of $7.25 per hour. But the state’s current rate of $8.25 isn’t enough for Illinois lawmakers, who want to increase the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour. Efforts to increase the minimum...
Illinois loses one resident every 10 minutes to net out-migration. It should be no surprise that people are fleeing Illinois. Illinois ranks 48th in economic outlook, 45th in GDP growth between 2000 and 2010, and 47th in its level of entrepreneurial activity. There is little opportunity left for Illinois’ families and entrepreneurs to succeed. And...