By: Ted Dabrowski
Crime is getting all the attention these days, but add the inability to compete on jobs to Chicagoland’s long list of failures.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics just released its latest update on jobs and Chicagoland – defined as Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-WI-IN, Metropolitan Statistical Area – was ranked 4th-worst in the country among the nation’s biggest metropolitan areas. With an unemployment rate of 4.3 percent, only the MSAs of Las Vegas, Cleveland and Memphis did worse.
Yes, Chicago’s overall unemployment rate is relatively low given historic trends, but the reality is the area can’t keep up with its neighbors, many of which are creating far more jobs for their residents.
Take the Indianapolis MSA. Its unemployment rate is just 2.6 percent. Or Minneapolis, at 1.7 percent. Or Louisville, at 3.3 percent.
Each percentage point drop in the unemployment rate means some 37,000 additional jobs for Chicago’s MSA. If Chicagoland had the same unemployment rate as the Minneapolis MSA, 97,000 more residents would have jobs and all the benefits that come with them.
Other close-by neighbors continue to outcompete Chicago in the creation of jobs. Detroit’s unemployment rate is just 3.3 percent and so is Milwaukee’s.
The problems for Chicago mirror, by definition, the problems in Illinois. We recently reported on the state’s dismal unemployment numbers, the worst in the nation. At 4.6 percent in October, they far exceed those of our neighbors.
Don’t expect Chicago or Illinois’ numbers to get better. Amendment 1 and the SAFE-T Act’s end-of-cash bail provision both kick in soon. More extreme government union powers coupled with increased crime aren’t likely to make job creation the number one focus of Illinoisans and the companies that operate here.
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Amendment 1 makes vast majority of Illinoisans subservient to government workers: 7 percent lords over 93 percent
- Illinois has created no net new jobs in 20 years
- New release: Illinois continues to have the worst unemployment rate in the nation
- Chicago’s progressive agenda has been destructive for black communities
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
The actual numbers are higher, much higher. No one in their right mind would open up a business in Illinois. Many more businesses are closing than opening. This is only going to get worse. The only jobs left are Government jobs worth getting. Once you have one you cannot be fired for any reason, even a good one.