By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – The top brass at the Illinois Manufacturing Association reports manufacturing is booming in McLean county – but around the state, not so much.
“We’re growing here in Illinois, unfortunately, were growing slower than our neighboring states since the recession in 2009, so in the last decade, we’ve added about 40,000 manufacturing jobs – which is good, except when you compare it to our neighboring states, who’ve all added at least twice that amount, so we’ve added jobs a little bit slower,” Mark Denzler, President, and CEO of the IMA told WJBC.
Despite record growth in McLean County from manufacturers like Rivian Automotive, Ferrero, and Brandt industries, Denzler reports a lot of the problem is policy related.
“We’ve faced the same global challenges, that face the same challenges at the national level. But there are things – you know, high property taxes, for example, we’re not a right-to-work state. One of the most important things on the ballot in November is this workers right’s amendment, as they call it.
But essentially, they’re enshrining in the constitution not only a ban on a right to work, but they’re going far beyond that and saying that ‘you have to negotiate things related to economic, safety (and) health.’ So that’s going to take the power away from mayors, city councils, and general assemblies. And ultimately going to result in higher costs. So when businesses see that – it creates a second thought of do they want to invest their capital and their employment growth here in the state of Illinois.”
In McLean County, more than $2 billion in economic output comes from manufacturing, which is about 10% of the county’s budget.
Blake Haas can be reached at Blake.Haas@Cumulus.com.
