Jobs + Growth

Caterpillar sends break up letter to Illinois

"It's not you, it's your state's fiscal mess."

Wrong way, Illinois: Unemployment rate increased most in the nation in 2011

As Gov. Pat Quinn prepares for the State of the State address on Feb. 1, he will find it difficult to defend the state’s economic policies that have resulted in more unemployed Illinoisans in 2011. Almost a year after Illinois’ record income tax increase, the state’s unemployment woes contrast starkly with the slow but positive...

By Ted Dabrowski

Scrooge the investor, job creator

by Kristina Rasmussen Jim Lacey provides a much-needed new perspective on Ebenezer Scrooge over at NRO: More than anything else, Scrooge’s investments created jobs. A man with the wealth Dickens implies Scrooge possesses was probably making investments that employed many thousands of workers. History tells us that these “men of business” also reaped most of the rewards....

Illinois’ out-migration crisis

by Ted Dabrowski Illinois is bleeding people to almost every state in the nation. People are packing up and voting with their feet. Gone – goodbye. When people leave, they don’t just take their belongings. With them go their earnings, their spending power and their contribution to society. When they own companies, they even take the...

The lost decade

by Amanda Griffin-Johnson Between 2000 and 2010, Illinois lost 434,100 jobs – more than almost any other state. By comparison, Texas gained 910,400 jobs during the same time span. Click on the image below to check out our interactive dashboard to see how Illinois stacked up against other states in job creation over the last decade.

Illinois adds jobs yet unemployment rises to 10.1 percent

by Emily Dietrich Illinois’ economy added 30,000 jobs in the month of October. However, the state’s unemployment rate ticked up to 10.1 percent. This contradiction leaves many wondering: did the Illinois jobs market improve or not? To evaluate the jobs market, economists rely on two surveys produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS. The...

Joel Kotkin: Illinois needs competitive public policies

Noted futurist and author Joel Kotkin visited the Illinois Policy Institute Wednesday to discuss how Illinois can brighten its economic and social outlook. In his remarks, Kotkin discussed the importance of good public policies that will allow people and businesses to thrive. When bad public policies are enacted, people vote with their feet – which...

Is the Nation slowing Illinois’ job growth?

by Emily Dietrich Is the national economy really at fault for Illinois’ poor jobs market? The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) released the September numbers on Illinois’ jobs market yesterday. The report was titled: “National Slowdown Impacts Illinois’ Economy.” This report comes on the heels of their August report, titled: “Stagnant National Growth Squeezes Illinois Labor Market.”...

A perfect 10 – Unemployment rises to 10% in Illinois

by Emily Dietrich Illinois’ unemployment rate rose to 10 percent, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported today. For yet another month, more Illinoisans were added to the unemployment rolls. Specifically, 10,500 people lost their jobs last month or started looking for work after having given up. Yet, Illinois did experience some job creation. In September, 1,600...

Taxes Drive Away Local Small Business

by Emily Dietrich A recent email from Jeff Hickman – General Manager of Cal Lab Co., Inc. – read: “Attached is just one more reason why we’re looking at moving to Indiana. I took these photos on my way in to work this morning.” Titled “Illinoid,” the pictures showed a whopping $0.37 difference between a...

Illinois’s Job Creators and Workers: “Complainers”?

by Emily Dietrich After a weeklong excursion to Asia, Gov. Quinn made a splash last Wednesday with his first public statement in 20 days. Quinn said that those expressing concern over Illinois’s economy are “complainers” and “naysayers.” As evidence of a positive jobs market, Quinn pointed to the job growth the state experienced last year. True, the...

America’s Hero: The Entrepreneur

by Emily Dietrich In page after page of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand depicts her real life hero – the entrepreneur. After a Library of Congress survey revealed that readers of Atlas Shrugged rate the novel only second to the Bible as the most influential book in their lives, it’s no surprise that this way of thinking has taken root. Entrepreneurs...

Nation’s Highest Spike in Unemployment Seen in Illinois Metro Division

by Emily Dietrich Today the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the majority of U.S. metropolitan areas decreased their unemployment rate from last year. Unfortunately for the largest metropolitan division in Illinois – Chicago-Joliet-Naperville – this was not the case. With unemployment spiking 0.7 percentage points from a year earlier, Chicago-Joliet-Naperville experienced the largest unemployment rate increase...

Illinois Business Climate Ranks in Bottom

by Emily Dietrich Yesterday’s headline in the Chicago Tribune, “Illinois Among Worst States to do Business,” encapsulates what’s been on the minds of countless job creators and job seekers across the state. A new study by the Development Counsellors International reports that of the 322 U.S. corporate executives surveyed, nearly one quarter viewed Illinois as having one of...