In Cook County, businesses with fewer than 20 employees have been the only firms to add jobs on net since the onset of the pandemic, creating nearly 65,500 jobs. Firms of all other sizes have yet to bring their employment back to pre-pandemic levels. They remain more than 57,000 jobs below early 2020 levels, according to Census Bureau data.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.