Though Baxter International Inc. has denied reports that it is considering relocating to Boston, Illinois officials are in damage-control mode to ensure that the Deerfield, Ill.-based company stays put. On Aug. 27, the Boston Business Journal reported that Baxter, a biotech giant that has been based in Illinois since the 1930s, is looking to make a...

The unemployment rate fell in all of Illinois’ metropolitan statistical areas in July, according to a press release from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. In fact, unemployment rates have fallen in all metro areas for four consecutive months, which seems like welcome news. But these numbers are only encouraging at face value. As is...

Hostess Brands LLC announced on Aug. 20 that the Illinois bakery where Twinkies were first invented will close this fall. More than 400 workers will be affected by the shuttering of the company’s Schiller Park location in October. Sadly, this isn’t surprising. In 2012, Hostess closed three bakeries nationwide after a massive union strike, high...

Illinois’ 2011 income tax hike put the brakes on the state’s private-sector jobs recovery. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Illinois’ monthly job creation has slowed down since the state’s historic 2011 tax hike. Meanwhile, the rest of the country accelerated its jobs growth. Job losses from the Great Recession began for...

Illinois government does some strange things. A case in point is how the state treats people and businesses that create jobs. Illinoisans are subject to both a death tax and a franchise tax. The death tax is a special tax on wealthy people just for the privilege of dying in the state of Illinois. This...

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...

Employment in Illinois’ metropolitan areas improved in May, but employment growth is still far behind what it should be, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All 10 metropolitan areas saw month-over-month and year-over-year improvement of their unemployment rates. Unfortunately, every Illinois metro area has an unemployment rate above the national average of...

When Gov. Pat Quinn’s campaign spokesperson, Brooke Anderson, joined host Mike Flannery on Fox Chicago on June 8, she claimed: “Unemployment is at its lowest point in more than five years. More people are working in Illinois today than when the governor took office.” But that’s simply not true. While the unemployment rate in Illinois...

The U.S. jobless rate remained at 6.7 percent in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national jobless measure has not improved for three months. U.S. payrolls picked up 192,000 workers in March, slightly below expectations of 200,000. Employment gains were made in professional and business services (57,000), food and drink services (30,000),...

Illinois’ jobless rate remained stuck at 8.7 percent for the month of February, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Illinois remains the only state in the Midwest with a higher jobless rate today than when Gov. Pat Quinn took office. When Quinn took office, the jobless rate was 8 percent. The state gained 6,400...