House Bill 3293, which would force any person or group that is not a school district, religious organization or transportation company, but that possesses a school bus, to change the appearance of the school bus, passed the Illinois General Assembly on the last day of spring session.
Middle class families are unwilling to live in a city where there aren’t enough jobs and the cost of living is too high.
The General Assembly hasn’t made significant traction on a balanced budget before session ends, but the Illinois Senate had time May 30 to pass a bill regulating trampoline safety.
March 2017 saw 15,000 more Illinoisans on food stamps than March 2016, while the number of Indiana SNAP recipients dropped from March 2016 to March 2017.
While major headlines broke over news that Chicago was the only one of America’s largest 20 cities to shrink from July 2015 to July 2016, most of Illinois’ other cities with 50,000 people or more also lost population.
Illinois lost 195,000 more college-bound students than it gained from 2000-2014.
Illinois lost more millennial college students than any other state except New Jersey between 2000 and 2014, and Illinois’ loss of young people appears to be accelerating.
In 2015, Chicago-headquartered Akuna Capital LLC signed a deal with the state of Illinois that state officials estimated to be worth $4.5 million. As part of the agreement, Akuna agreed to hire 10 new employees. The agreement states the new hires specialized in trading and software.
Only 51 percent of black adults reported having some form of work in Illinois.
New Bureau of Labor Statistics data show Illinois’ black residents have an unemployment rate of 12.7 percent, more than double the state’s overall rate.
Illinois still has 25,600 fewer jobs compared with the year 2000. Illinois is one of the only states in the country to have fewer jobs today than at the turn of the century.
The plant will close its doors by July 17 and offer some employees relocation opportunities.
By fixing cost drivers, decreasing the cost of doing business in Illinois, and easing the tax burden, Illinois can encourage jobs growth and stand a better chance at attracting and retaining younger people.
Illinois’ workers’ compensation system costs taxpayers $1 billion per year, and employers repeatedly cite hefty workers’ compensation costs as a driving factor in fleeing the state for friendlier business climates. High workers’ compensation costs most directly affect labor-intensive blue-collar employment sectors – which have struggled to regain their footing in Illinois since the Great Recession. Despite mounting evidence that workers’ compensation...