Illinois ranks as the top pumpkin producer in the country, which isn’t much of a consolation given the state’s poor performance in almost every economic category.

Needless licensing requirements are killing job opportunities, especially for lower-income Illinoisans.

Illinois law gives financial incentives to many injured workers to stay off the job and to doctors to prescribe more medications to workers’ compensation patients.

The August BLS jobs report shows Illinois is down 8,000 manufacturing jobs on the year, giving the state the worst manufacturing job losses in the region, and a summer workforce contraction totaling 100,000 people.

The Land of Lincoln’s out-migration crisis is the most severe in the region and worsening over time.

A new study by The Pew Charitable Trusts shows Illinois trails all states but Nevada in personal income growth since the Great Recession, with a growth rate half that of Illinois’ neighbors.

Less than half of Illinois households are defined as middle class.

While neighboring states are making themselves friendlier for farmers, Illinois keeps its unfair death tax in place.