October job numbers for Illinois remained disappointing, with an unemployment rate that was third highest in the nation. There are 346,000 Illinoisans who need a job.
Illinois’ job market outpaced the national average during August. But 13 of Illinois’ 15 metropolitan areas continued to have higher unemployment rates than the national average.
The Fed just cut interest rates over worries about the national jobs outlook, but in Illinois unemployment has been a persistent problem. Tax and state economic policy should get much of the blame.
Nearly 100,000 Chicago-area residents are out of work, and at 6.2% the Chicago metro area has the highest unemployment rate of the nation’s 50 largest metro areas. Illinois as a whole isn’t doing much better, with a 6.1% unemployment rate.
Illinoisans faced 1,026 mass layoffs in June 2024, with manufacturing and transportation sectors hit hardest. John Deere in East Moline accounted for about 1-in-4 of the layoffs announced statewide.
The jobs are there. The people to fill them are there. The only thing standing in the way is Illinois’ overreaching state regulations and job licensing.
Black workers in Illinois face a tougher job market compared to other big states. Illinois has the highest unemployment rate for Black workers among the 10 biggest states.
Illinois finds itself at a crossroads: will it empower minorities and poor people to unleash their potential, or will it perpetuate an inequitable status quo? For far too many Illinoisans, opportunity is unfairly and unnecessarily out of reach. Illinois ranks in the bottom ten among all states in social mobility and last among Midwest states...