An encouraging December helped pull the Land of Lincoln out of last place in the Midwest for 2014 jobs growth.

There are now 1.06 million more Americans working than when the recession began. In comparison, there are 232,000 fewer Illinoisans working over the same time period, the second-largest employment gap in the U.S.

Illinois’ jobs crisis has led to a dependency crisis.

Had Illinois managed the recession and recovery on par with the rest of the U.S., there would be an additional 300,000 Illinoisans working today, and an additional 220,000 payroll jobs.

Illinois is now down 138,200 total payroll jobs in the recession era, the second-worst recovery of any state.

Illinois is still seven years and 286,000 workers from recovery.

The Illinois unemployment rate fell to 6.6 percent from 6.7 percent in September, according to today’s economic release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The number of payroll jobs in Illinois increased by 19,300 in September, the sixth-best monthly increase in the last 10 years. Illinois’ workforce grew by 5,800 in September, the first month...

The Great Recession knocked 500,000 Illinoisans out of work from January 2008 to November 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ household survey. And since then, only 200,000 Illinoisans have gone back to work. This stands as one of the country’s slowest recoveries. As a result, Illinois has 300,000 fewer people working today than...

The U.S. hit a major milestone in September. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey, the number of Americans working has finally surpassed pre-recession levels. In addition, the national jobless rate fell to 5.9 percent to 6.1 percent. The number of Illinoisans working, however, is far from recovery. There are now 220,000 more...