Today’s number: 10
Wednesday, Feb 24, 2016 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The liberal Center for American Progress has released its annual State of the States report.
Illinois ranks in the middle of the pack on things like these…
29 - AFFORDABLE AND AVAILABLE HOUSING Illinois had 62 apartments or other units that were affordable and available for every 100 renter households with very low incomes in 2014. Very low-income households are those with incomes at or below half of median income in the metropolitan or other area where they live.
27 - CHILD POVERTY RATE: 19.9 percent of children under age 18 in related families in Illinois had incomes below the poverty line in 2014.
25 - POVERTY RATE: 14.4 percent of people in Illinois had incomes below the poverty line—about $24,000 for a family of four—in 2014.
25 - GENDER WAGE GAP Among full-time, year-round workers in Illinois in 2014, women’s median earnings were 79.2 percent of men’s median earnings.
23 - HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION RATE: 83 percent of high school students in Illinois graduated on time at the end of the 2012–13 school year.
23 - DISCONNECTED YOUTH: 15 percent of youth ages 18 to 24 in Illinois who were not in school or working in 2013
23 - LACK OF HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE: 19.8 percent of people under age 65 and below 138 percent of the poverty line in Illinois did not have health insurance at any time in 2014.
22 - TEEN BIRTH RATE There were 24.6 births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19 in 2013 in Illinois.
20 - CHILDREN LIVING APART FROM PARENTS: 5 children in Illinois lived in foster care for every 1,000 children under age 18 in 2013.
20 - UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE COVERAGE: 29.9 percent of unemployed workers in Illinois were helped by unemployment insurance in 2014
* Unsurprisingly, we were horrible on this…
44 - UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 7.1 percent of all workers in Illinois were unemployed in 2014
* I was kinda surprised at how high we ranked on this…
13 - SAVINGS AND ASSETS: 5.3 percent of households in Illinois used high-cost, high-risk forms of credit to make ends meet during 2013. This includes payday loans, automobile title loans, refund anticipation loans, rent to own, and pawning.
* And our best ranking was on this…
10 - HIGHER EDUCATION ATTAINMENT RATE: 46.5 percent of young adults ages 25 to 34 in Illinois had an associate’s degree or higher from 2011 to 2013.
So, the one thing that clearly sets us apart from the majority of states, and yet higher ed has received no state money all fiscal year.
Heckuva job, folks. Heckuva job.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 1:38 pm:
Didn’t Rauner recently suggest Illinois should aspire to be average in most things? Aim for mediocrity or something.
If that’s his goal, then gutting higher education makes perfect sense.
- SAP - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 2:04 pm:
Beat me to it 47th. Well-played.
- wordslinger - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 2:04 pm:
It remains shocking to me that zeroing out social services and higher ed in Illinois is an acceptable political tactic in some circles.
But, clearly, it is, as we read in comments from the most fervent Rauner supporters every day.
All for some bright, sunny day to come that they can neither articulate or explain how these acts of destruction will bring about.
It’s like a cult.
- Robert the 1st - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 2:11 pm:
Mediocre unemployment would be nice.
- SAP - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 2:11 pm:
I’d love to see how many of the 46.5% of young adults with an associates degree or better got their educations outside of Illinois.
- up2now - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 2:41 pm:
Tenth in higher education attainment rate? Shoot, looks like we can let off the gas here and coast for a while, at least until we fall for 48th or 49th. Governor’s got the right idea. /s
- burbanite - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 3:19 pm:
“40 INCOME INEQUALITY
The share of income going to the top 20 percent of households in Illinois was 16.5 times that going to the bottom
20 percent of households in 2014″ But but, I thought….
- Toffee - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 3:22 pm:
Eating our seed corn.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:00 pm:
Illinois finally gets one thing right … and Rauner wants to change it.
- Tone - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:07 pm:
Illinois has ONE public university worth anything. That’s UofI. The reason Illinois has a high level of highly educated is because of the City of Chicago. Without it, Illinois would be the Alabama of the north.
- Columbo - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:15 pm:
So in spite of cutting $1.1 billion out of higher education over the last 10 years or so, Illinois higher education is still performing well. Only under “Governor Attractin’ Jobs and Growin’ Budinesses” does this warrant the most harsh punitive measure. How’z that “Bloat” argument workin’ for you now Guv?
- burbanite - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:32 pm:
Tone stop being an insulting troll already and go away.
Sincerely,
Successful NIU Grad
- Arthur Andersen - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:49 pm:
Tone, that post seems to say you are in the 17 percent that didn’t graduate from high school, amirite?
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 4:49 pm:
==Illinois has ONE public university worth anything==
Baloney.
Sincerely,
A successfuly ISU grad
- Finally Out (and now very glad to be) - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 6:49 pm:
Tone….make a bumper sticker out of that and drive through Alabama this summer. Stop often and share your wisdom with the locals.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 6:52 pm:
Tone…sorry, forgot to sign off as Demoralized did.
Sincerely,
A well educated, well paid, doing very well in retirement UIS grad.
- Finally Out (and now very glad to be) - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 7:09 pm:
Apologies again, 6:52 was me.
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 7:34 pm:
Columbo, had you read (you can and do read, right?), the higher ed attainment data is an estimate from 2013
- cannon649 - Wednesday, Feb 24, 16 @ 8:00 pm:
horrible on this…
44 - UNEMPLOYMENT RATE: 7.1 percent of all workers in Illinois were unemployed in 2014
This is very sad.