State manufacturers group says Illinois has added only one job every two months

Posted on March 31, 2017

(Photo courtesy Facebook/Illinois Manufacturers Association)

By Greg Halbleib

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Manufacturing Association is pushing for policy changes to keep the state from lagging behind its neighbors in job growth.

The IMA said this week that Illinois has added only one job every two months since 2000. The association’s Mark Denzler said neighboring states have added thousands of jobs during that time.

“Even if we gained 100,000 jobs in the state, 100,000 more people working, eating in restaurants, buying cars, it would have been a significant shot for the economy,” Denzler told WJBC’s Sam Wood.

PODCAST: Listen here to Denzler’s interview with WJBC’s Sam Wood.

Denzler said numbers from the Illinois Department of Employment Security show that scores of businesses are choosing to stay away from Illinois. The IMA said Indiana has added 110,600 jobs, with other increases of 99,700 in Iowa, 134,000 in Missouri and 116,300 in Wisconsin.

Denzler said many employers have said they want to locate in Illinois but instead move just across the border where taxes and policies are more business-friendly.

The IMA is pushing its “Middle Class Manufacturing Agenda” that includes fiscal stability, property tax reduction, strengthening education and workforce development and reforms in pensions, taxes and economic development.

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