Illinois employers warn of nearly 1,400 layoffs in coming months
Employers in Illinois filed notice with the state in January of hundreds of layoffs.
Illinois ended 2015 with terrible jobs news – the state had fewer jobs at the end of the year than it had at the outset.
And for many workers, the start of 2016 isn’t looking much brighter.
Employers filed notice with the state of more than 1,370 layoffs in January. Workers at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kmart, Mondelez International Inc., Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, Heritage Health, Presence Health and more will be without jobs, according to the state’s report.
Illinois workers are struggling mightily in the state’s poor economy.
In fact, Illinois was the only state of all bordering and Great Lakes states to lose jobs on net in 2015, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While Illinois lost 3,000 jobs on net in 2015, every surrounding state added tens of thousands of jobs on net.
Illinois’ manufacturing sector has borne the most pain during Illinois’ sluggish recovery – again standing as a regional outlier in terms of generating good factory jobs. Illinois is home to the lowest-paid production workers in the Midwest.
Policy reforms should target Illinois’ manufacturing and industrial sectors, where businesses and residents have experienced the most economic pain and job losses. Those reforms should include:
- Fixing Illinois’ broken workers’ compensation system, which drives manufacturing jobs out of the state
- Fixing the state’s anti-business lawsuit climate
- Freezing the nation’s second-highest property taxes and allowing local governments to cut budget costs
- Avoiding another tax hike that would give Illinois the fourth-highest overall tax burden in the country
- Comprehensive pension reform
Years of failed public policies have led to a dreadful jobs climate in the Land of Lincoln. Only bold reform can change that.