How much political influence should you need to get a liquor license in Chicago? The Chicago Sun-Times highlighted the role of “clout” in helping Pete’s Fresh Market, a grocery chain opening a new location on Chicago’s underserved West Side, get one. On its face, the article is a critique of how well-connected people use political ties...
Chicago needs entrepreneurs. But too often, the city slows them down or chases them out of town. The “City that Works” doesn’t work for startups. A simple process is necessary so that startups in Chicago can get off the ground and start working, hiring and paying taxes. One good place to start is to make...
Popular ridesharing company Uber is ready to add 425 new jobs in its Chicago office – but only if Gov. Pat Quinn vetoes a bill recently passed by the Illinois General Assembly that would impose burdensome restrictions on ridesharing services and their drivers. Some businesses tell the state government that they will only create jobs...
Two Illinois businesses have announced they will leave for Indiana since the start of July. One of them, ironically, is named after the state of Illinois. Illini Hi-Reach is a rental provider of industrial equipment. Illini announced on July 2 that it will move its corporate headquarters from Lemont, Ill. to Crown Point, Ind. Less...
Sara Travis loves Chicago. She’s lived here her whole life. When Sara decided to start her own business, there was no question that she would set up shop in her hometown. Sara founded The Brew Hub, a mobile coffee-vending business that sells iced coffees and teas, in June 2013. But she encountered endless obstacles to becoming...
When Sara decided to start her own business, there was no question that she would set up shop in her hometown.
More than a dozen companies in Illinois will likely cut a total of nearly 1,700 jobs by the end of the year, according to a new state report. The June report for the Illinois’ Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN, is filled with job cuts from a commercial printing company, a jewelry company,...
The closing of a factory in Quincy, Ill., will leave more than 150 employees with uncertain futures. According to a recent report from The Quincy Herald-Whig, representatives of Quincy Compressor have announced that the factory will close in July 2015. Layoffs are expected to begin this fall. Despite efforts from union leaders and government officials...
Employment in Illinois’ metropolitan areas improved in May, but employment growth is still far behind what it should be, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All 10 metropolitan areas saw month-over-month and year-over-year improvement of their unemployment rates. Unfortunately, every Illinois metro area has an unemployment rate above the national average of...
It’s report-card season in Illinois, as the journey and efforts that began last August have come to fruition for students across the state. State governments can be graded too, in particular on the subject of jobs. How Illinois fares on job creation is critically important for local high school and college seniors, who have just...
According to a recent Gallup survey, only 60 percent of Illinoisans believe that this is a good state to start a business. Not only do we have one of the most negative views in the nation, but it stands in stark contrast to booming states such as North Dakota and Texas, where more than 80...
Illinoisans cross the border to become Hoosiers at a stunning rate. Illinois had a net loss of 4,100 people and $76 million of annual income to Indiana in 2010 alone, the most recent year of Internal Revenue Service data. That’s because for every three people who left Indiana for Illinois, four left Illinois for Indiana. Illinois’ losses to Indiana are...
Illinois’ unemployment rate fell to 7.5 percent from 7.9 percent month-over-month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ most recent household survey. But there’s no reason to celebrate. Payroll jobs shrank by 2,600, with a loss of 5,400 private-sector jobs and an increase of 2,800 government jobs. The decline in the unemployment rate was driven...
A Chicago business owner was told that his nickname – “Mike” – was “too ghetto” to be in the name of his own store. Mike Sharma was told by the University Village Association, or UVA, that his store’s intended name, “Mike’s Wine and Spirits,” wasn’t classy enough for the Little Italy neighborhood. As part of...