-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.9 percent in November and nonfarm payrolls decreased by -1,100 jobs over-the-month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES. October job growth was revised up to show a larger gain (+9,300 jobs) than initially reported (+3,400 jobs).
The list reads like a who’s who of hospital systems in the Chicago area: Advocate Health Care, Edward-Elmhurst Health, Centegra Health System.
But it’s a list of hospitals systems that cut jobs this year to deal with financial pressures — not a list any hospital is eager to join.
Hospitals in Illinois and across the country faced financial stresses this year and are likely to continue feeling the squeeze into 2018 and beyond, experts say. Those pressures could fuel more cuts, consolidation and changes to patient care and services.
Comment: Keep in mind these number are just median prices which don’t always mean much about the general direction of prices. Instead, they reflect which end of the price scale is seeing more activity.
Currently, over one million retirees in multiemployer plans are in danger of losing benefits because the plans that pay them will go bankrupt. In addition, the federal agency that acts as a backstop — the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation — is also in danger of bankruptcy. Without a resolution to this crisis, there could be millions lost in retirement benefits. This loss alone will put a strain on local economies where these retirees will have less money for consumption and some may be forced to rely on state assistance.
You will be haunted by three pension levies: The Ghost of Pension Cop, the Ghost of Pension Firefighter and the Ghost of Pension Other City Workers.
Starting Thursday, Cook County probation officers will have a new place to refer some of the 20,000 people on probation. For many of them, finding work is critical to staying out of trouble with the law. The court’s new partnership with a Chicago nonprofit means that now, they’re not only finding new careers, but a new sense of purpose.
Taxpayers are flooding county treasurers’ offices to prepay property tax bills that won’t arrive until next year, an unnatural phenomenon ignited by looming limits on federal deductions for state and local taxes.
In the wake of the tax overhaul passed by Congress yesterday, the University of Chicago would likely have to pay a new 1.4 percent levy on its endowment investment income, but Evanston-based Northwestern would not, under the law’s provisions. That’s because the University of Chicago at the moment exceeds an endowment dollars-per-student ratio threshold, while Northwestern does not, based on recent figures.
Few Illinois governments seem to understand – or care – about the implications of the state’s shrinking population. However, there are a few governments willing to actually find ways to make things more affordable for their residents. Lakewood Village is one of them. The village recently found the resolve to cut its property tax levy by 10 percent.
When SB 772 becomes law on Jan. 1, Illinois will strike an important blow against the doctor-shopping that feeds opioid abusers’ addiction.
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