U.S. joblessness stays steady, Illinois lags

The U.S. jobless rate remained at 6.7 percent in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national jobless measure has not improved for three months. U.S. payrolls picked up 192,000 workers in March, slightly below expectations of 200,000. Employment gains were made in professional and business services (57,000), food and drink services (30,000),...

The U.S. jobless rate remained at 6.7 percent in March, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national jobless measure has not improved for three months.

U.S. payrolls picked up 192,000 workers in March, slightly below expectations of 200,000. Employment gains were made in professional and business services (57,000), food and drink services (30,000), health care (19,000) and construction (19,000).

The national recovery has been slow; but Illinois’ has been slower still. The state’s jobless rate is 8.7 percent. Illinois fell behind after Gov. Pat Quinn took office in 2009, and then fell behind again after hiking taxes in 2011.

Illinois’ payrolls have been stagnant for four months. For Illinois to play a larger part in the national recovery, the state needs to make structural reforms. Those include:

• Scrapping the various tax-hike schemes on small businesses and sun-set the 2011 tax hikes

• Reducing the state’s regulatory burden, which is the ninth-worst in the nation

• Cutting the state’s corporate tax rate, which is the fourth-highest income tax rate in the industrialized world

• Reforming the state’s workers’ compensation system, which is the fourth-worst in the country

• Reduce the state’s unemployment insurance costs for businesses, which is the eighth-worst nationwide