The good news, bad news of Illinois’ latest job numbers – Wirepoints Quickpoint

By: Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner

Here’s the good news for Illinois when it comes to jobs: the number of unemployed Illinoisans is down by over 110,000 compared to a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. May 2022’s unemployment rate is down to 4.6 percent, far better than in May 2021 when it was 6.5 percent.

But here’s the bad news: Illinois’ unemployment number still lags far behind the rest of the nation. The state is tied with Pennsylvania for the nation’s 4th-worst unemployment rate.

Illinois’ unemployment rate is a full percentage point higher than the national average of 3.6 percent. 

It’s also more than double Indiana’s 2.2 percent rate. What if Illinois’ unemployment rate was the same low rate as Indiana’s? An additional 155,000 unemployed Illinoisans would have work today.

“Over the past year, Illinois has made long-term sustainable progress in adding jobs and lowering unemployment since the state fully re-opened in June 2021,” said DCEO Director Sylvia I. Garcia.

While that’s true, no amount of spin by the Pritzker administration can change the fact that Illinois remains a laggard when it comes to jobs. 

That’s the problem with Illinois being a national outlier. Its improvements sound impressive in isolation – but pale in comparison to the rest of the nation.

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Freddy
1 year ago

Lot of discussions on pensions here but here’s some perspective from Boone county pensions circa 1883
https://genealogytrails.com/ill/boone/1883pensioners.html

Ex Illini
1 year ago

If you pay people to sit on the sidelines, some will stay there forever.

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