Job creation finally besting food-stamp enrollment in Illinois
For nearly six years, Illinois was the only Midwestern state where growth in food stamps was outpacing jobs growth.
Illinois created more jobs than food-stamp enrollees in February 2016, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
October 2015 was the first month of a five-month streak where the state saw more jobs growth than enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps. During this time, Illinois businesses added 20,900 jobs and 166,577 people left the food-stamp rolls.
Job creation finally eclipsing food-stamp enrollment is welcome news, especially after nearly six years of Illinois being the only Midwestern state with food-stamp growth outpacing jobs during the recovery from the Great Recession.
Illinois became the most dependent state in the Midwest, measured as the percentage of residents dependent on food stamps, during its weak recession recovery. Illinois surpassed Michigan in 2014 for having the highest portion of its population on food stamps. It wasn’t until November 2015 that Illinois reported having fewer than 2 million residents on food stamps for the first time since February 2014.
The positive change in trends follows news that Illinois added 18,100 jobs on net in February 2016, marking a full recovery from the jobs losses the state suffered during the Great Recession. More jobs will help the state decrease food-stamp enrollment, but the state is still faced with an increase in unemployment as the Illinois workforce is growing significantly.
Illinois’ unemployment rate increased to 6.4 percent in February, up 0.1 percentage points from January, as unemployment rolls added 7,800 people. Many Illinoisans have also shifted from higher-paid industries, such as manufacturing, to lower-paid service jobs. Illinois is still down 90,000 manufacturing jobs during the recession era, but has seen an increase of 54,000 leisure and hospitality jobs.
Illinois’ Midwestern neighbors have seen a different trend through the recovery, though. For example, from January 2010 to the end of 2015, Illinois gained just 13,000 manufacturing jobs, while Michigan added 140,000, contributing to less Michigan residents being on food stamps. In Indiana, blue-collar workers are seeing higher wages than their Illinois peers, who saw the Land of Lincoln lose 56 manufacturers per workday in 2015.
Manufacturing did see a marked improvement from previous months in February 2016, gaining 3,500 factory jobs. But that growth still lagged behind the trade, transportation and utilities industry, which gained 4,500 jobs; and professional and business services, which added 6,600 jobs. Illinois will need to keep adding well-paying blue-collar jobs in industries such as manufacturing to continue decreasing its food-stamp rolls.
Even with some positive news in Illinois’ jobs outlook, the state’s slow growth over the past several years shows the state’s critical need for economic reforms, including:
- Reforms for the costliest workers’ compensation system in the Midwest, which drives away blue-collar jobs
- A property-tax freeze and local-government reforms that address Illinois property taxes, which are among the highest in the nation
- Lawsuit reform for the worst-ranked litigation climate in the Midwest
Enacting these pro-growth policies would help the state see more positive trends, and continue to eliminate dependency by helping unemployed Illinoisans find work, or find higher-paying work than they already have.