Illinois still 170,000 jobs away from recovery
Illinois gained 10,300 jobs in July, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. The Quinn camp was quick to tout this number as an indicator of the administration’s success. However, by comparison Illinois only created 10,600 net new jobs in first 66 months of Quinn’s tenure. Perhaps the Quinn administration believes that...
Illinois gained 10,300 jobs in July, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES. The Quinn camp was quick to tout this number as an indicator of the administration’s success. However, by comparison Illinois only created 10,600 net new jobs in first 66 months of Quinn’s tenure.
Perhaps the Quinn administration believes that Illinoisans will forget the failures of 66 months due to a decent 67th month.
In all, Illinois still has 170,000 fewer payroll jobs compared to its pre-recession peak, according to the new jobs data.
The U.S. as a whole recovered all the payroll jobs lost during the Great Recession by March 2014. Illinois, on the other hand, is still two years of solid job creation away from recovery.
The state’s unemployment rate fell to 6.8 percent from 7.1 percent. However, the jobs data release didn’t make clear whether the rate fell due to unemployed workers leaving the workforce.
Illinois has little reason to be optimistic on this front. Workers giving up and dropping out of the workforce – not the creation of new jobs – has been the determining factor in the decline in the state’s unemployment rate this year.
In fact, just last month the state suffered the largest monthly workforce loss in recorded state history.
In comparison to the Midwest and the rest of the country, Illinois is a laggard state, and one month does not change that. The reason the state is trailing is because Illinois’ business environment is one of the least friendly in the country, according to small businesses, which give Illinois an F for business friendliness, and corporate CEOs in Illinois, who compare the state’s governance to that of a third-world country.
Illinois needs a lower tax burden, structural tax reform, a regulatory overhaul and a more hospitable environment to foster entrepreneurship. Anything less is simply encouraging continued failure.