Downtown appeal and state-issued tax credits mask a discouraging jobs climate statewide.

Illinois’ dismal business climate continues to inhibit jobs growth, especially in manufacturing, as the state put 25 people on food stamps for every factory job created during the recovery from the Great Recession.

Despite being the most populous state in the Midwest, Illinois has added just 13,400 payroll jobs in 2015 – fewer than any other neighboring state.

Illinois lost 2,200 manufacturing jobs in August and is down nearly 10,000 on the year.

In the other Great Lakes states, workers are more likely to be able to find a manufacturing opportunity than a government job.

Indiana and Michigan laid the framework for a manufacturing and jobs recovery. Until politicians in the Illinois General Assembly get serious about pursuing real reforms, the state’s jobs climate with continue to decline.

Illinois still ranks last in the country for putting people back to work over the Great Recession era.

Since the January 2011 tax hikes, Illinois’ recovery slowed down, the rest of the Midwest sped up and the rest of the U.S. significantly accelerated. The Great Lakes states performed in lockstep with how well they fostered the free-enterprise system.

Illinois’ manufacturing sector has been hemorrhaging jobs for decades, and policy has a lot to do with it. Since 2004, Illinois has lost 125,000 manufacturing jobs. Most of these losses resulted from the Great Recession – a colossal 117,000 manufacturing jobs were shed from January 2008-January 2010 – but precious few have returned. In the...