New IDES data show that Illinois’ overall jobs growth was weak for October. While the greater Chicago area had tepid jobs growth over the year, the rest of the state lost jobs.
Metropolitan jobs data show that from September 2015 – September 2016 the greater Chicago area is up approximately 49,000 jobs, while the rest of the state is down 6,000 jobs.
Since the end of the recession, only 5 out of Illinois’ 13 metro areas – Carbondale-Marion, Chicago, Kankakee, Lake County-Kenosha County and Springfield – have recovered all the private-sector jobs lost from the Great Recession.
The time is ripe to offer private insurance options to needy Illinoisans through premium-assistance programs and Medicaid savings accounts.
Despite the heavy burden Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2017 budget imposes on Chicago taxpayers, not a single alderman voted against it.
Every dollar Madigan earns back for his corporate clients makes someone else’s property-tax bill go up.
Airbnb has reported that about 4,800 Chicagoans are Airbnb hosts, and they earn an average of $5,300 per year renting out their homes through the service.
Most people expect Illinois law enforcement to defend the private property of Illinois residents. As long as you obey the law, your life, liberty and property should be secure from the law – or so common sense would suggest. Yet, every year, Illinois law enforcement agencies take tens of millions of dollars in cash, vehicles,...
Illinois households are now on the hook for $27,000, up 17 percent from 2015.
More than 6,000 Illinois manufacturing jobs disappeared in 2015.
Negotiations between Illinois and AFSCME – the state’s largest government-worker union – languished for months. While AFSCME demanded contract benefits that would cost the state $3 billion in additional salary and benefit increases, Gov. Bruce Rauner offered a contract that treats state workers fairly and avoids further burdening taxpayers. On Nov. 15, the Illinois Labor Relations Board issued a decision that prevents AFSCME from obstructing progress on an agreement.
IRS data show the average income of taxpayers leaving Illinois surpassed the average income of taxpayers entering the state by $20,000 in 2014, a record loss for Illinois in the wake of the 2011 income-tax hike.
An otherwise ordinary fall day turned joyous on Sept. 24, 2015. Dozens of food-cart street vendors rallied at Chicago City Hall to show support for an ordinance that would legalize the vendors’ trade. Approximately 1,500 food carts – beloved by their communities in Chicago’s predominantly Hispanic neighborhoods – had operated in an underground economy for...
Pepe Balanzar learned to make tamales from his grandmother. Growing up in the restaurant business, she would make one batch for selling and one batch for family. The family batch had more meat, more “masa,” or dough, and more flavor. So when Balanzar opened Chicago’s first food truck, he had to choose a side: Which...