Illinois

Illinois employers forecast 1,300 layoffs

By Austin Berg
09/09/2014
More than 1,300 Illinoisans will be laid off in coming months, according to notices filed in accordance with the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN. Among the cuts listed in the August WARN report are 418 jobs lost in conjunction with Hostess Brands’ shuttering of its Twinkie factory in Schiller Park – the...

TAGS: jobs, unemployment

Minority employment tanks under Quinn

By Michael Lucci
09/08/2014
Minorities have suffered disproportionately under the failed economic policies of Gov. Pat Quinn. From its pre-recession peak through 2013, the black employment rate has plummeted by 7.1 percentage points, more than any other racial group in Illinois. Fewer than half of black adults are employed in Illinois. And the black male employment rate has been...

TAGS: jobs, unemployment

Can Illinois’ dead-last credit rating get any worse?

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/08/2014
According to ratings agency Standard & Poor’s 500 Illinois’ credit rating is the worst among the 50 states. We are the only state in the country with an A- credit rating – on par with nations such as Botswana, Latvia and Slovenia And Illinoisans should be aware of the possibility that we could be headed...

TAGS: credit rating

A legislative agenda for entrepreneurs

By Michael Lucci
09/08/2014
Illinois has become infamous for encouraging cronyism and discouraging entrepreneurship, but there are a number of steps state lawmakers could take to end this cycle and encourage growth. Without serious changes, Illinois will continue on a cycle of job loss and economic decline. According to the Kauffman Foundation, Illinois ranks near the bottom for entrepreneurial...

TAGS: Chicago, jobs

Illinois corruption watch, August 2014

By Brian Costin
09/05/2014
At least 84 corruption-related stories have been reported from across the state of Illinois in August alone. Atop August headlines is the recent revelation that a federal grand jury subpoenaed the emails of Gov. Pat Quinn’s ex-chief of staff in relation to Quinn’s anti-violence grant program. The case, which has been referred to by some...

TAGS: Chicago, corruption, cronyism, transparency, waste

U.S. recovers, Illinois lags

By Michael Lucci
09/05/2014
U.S. nonfarm payrolls added 142,000 jobs in August, against consensus expectations of 230,000, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. August marked the worst month of job creation in 2014. Average monthly job creation so far this year is 215,000. The national unemployment rate ticked down to 6.1 percent, because only 16,000 unemployed Americans found...

TAGS: jobs

D.C. court to rehear Halbig ObamaCare decision

09/04/2014
Good news for the Obama administration: the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has granted the administration’s request to rehear the court’s July 22 decision in Halbig v. Burwell. That decision struck down an Internal Revenue Service rule that made ObamaCare insurance subsidies available in all 50 states, even though the...

Record number of Illinois government workers opt out of pensions, into 401(k)-style plans

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/03/2014
Illinois has the worst-funded pension systems in the nation. But there’s one group of state-government workers that isn’t worried about whether their retirement checks will be slashed. Today, more than 13 percent of all active employees in the State Universities Retirement System, or SURS, participate in a 401(k)-style plan instead of a traditional pension plan...
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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016