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Yep, we still suck

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Illinois

* This almost glowing IDES press release obscures some really bad news, which I highlighted for you…

Private Sector Adds 7,100 Jobs in July
Summer Unemployment Trend Continues

CHICAGO – Illinois added 7,100 private sector jobs in July and the unemployment rate was 9.2 percent, according to preliminary data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). Illinois added 62,100 private sector jobs compared to July 2012. The data is seasonally adjusted.

“Three consecutive months of positive job numbers underscores the deliberate pace of our economic growth,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said. “Three consecutive summers with an uptick in the unemployment rate here and elsewhere suggests a trend unrelated to job growth and merits watching.”

Employers posted more than 195,000 help-wanted ads in Illinois in July, the Conference Board stated. Nearly 80 percent were full-time positions. The data is seasonally adjusted.

Illinois has added +244,300 private sector jobs since January 2010 when job growth returned following nearly two years of consecutive monthly declines. Leading growth sectors are Professional and Business Services (+110,100); Education and Health Services (+57,100); and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+46,000). Government has lost the most jobs since January 2010, down -33,200.

Volatility has been the hallmark of this economic cycle. When compared to the previous month, Illinois recorded job growth in 31 months and job loss in 12. Unemployment fell in 24 months, increased in nine and was unchanged in 10. Sustained consumer confidence could reduce volatility.

The three-month moving average unemployment rate, which smoothes monthly volatility, was unchanged at 9.2 percent in July. In July 2013, the number of unemployed individuals increased slightly for the second time since March, up +4,200 (+0.7 percent) to 604,700. Total unemployed has fallen -147,500 (-19.6 percent) since early 2010 when the state unemployment rate peaked at 11.3 percent for the months of January and February.

The unemployment rate identifies those who are out of work and seeking employment. A person who exhausts benefits, or is ineligible, still will be reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work. Historically, the national unemployment rate is lower than the state rate. The state rate has been lower than the national rate only six times since January 2000.

Ugh.

posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 11:48 am

Comments

Nevada’s dropped 0.1 last month, while we creeped up yet again.

If this continues we’ll be last in the nation a month or two from now. Not good.

Comment by Keep Calm and Carry On Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 11:53 am
…. and thank you Illinois Democrats!

Comment by Conservative Republican Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 11:55 am
I believe this is roughly 1% higher than the national average, which makes believe there are things in Illinois we can do to help encourage job creation… such as looking at laws and policy’s regarding employers. We should start yesterday.

We have good resources, we have the 3rd largest city in the country, we need better government and better policies.

Comment by Ahoy! Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:20 pm
And yet the State of Illinois keeps giving tax breaks to large corporations and the Gov touts all the jobs that will be created. And six months later the company lays people off. Just look at Navistar in Naperville!! We’ve got to stop giving tax dollars away.

Comment by Union Man Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:24 pm
……………………………….June 2012 | …July 2013
Illinois …………………| 5,739,800 | 5,795,300

We have gained about 55k jobs in one year… about 4500 per month

Indiana, with about half the residents did the same…

Comment by Cincinnatus Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:28 pm
Illinois has a lot going for it. It’s in the middle of the country. It has one of the biggest airports. it has some major corporate headquarters but…. the politicians and voters here aren’t committed to bringing jobs to this area. Lower corporate taxes, tort reform, and right to work legislation would do wonders for Illinois. The state could do much better.

Comment by Steve Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:29 pm
The good news is that for job seekers who can help Quinn win in 2014 by delivering lots of votes/$, the unemployment rate is. 001%.

Seriously Illinois desperately needs a coherent strategy to create jobs. Yesterday’s post mentioned a new law that mandates a new economic council and plan. Let’s hope there’s the talent left in DCEO to pull it off. Under Thompson all of State government worked on such a plan. I’m not sure it fully worked but at least Thompson took it seriously and tried.

Comment by Sir Reel Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:31 pm
Plus with the way the economy is today, the price of everything rising, Obamacare around the corner and pension concerns, people are working longer. I have severval friends who in the states pension systems and have decided to stay working for a few more years. As more folks work longer, there will be fewer new jobs opening up!!

Comment by Union Man Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:34 pm
===the price of everything rising===

Inflation rate is 2 percent nationally.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:45 pm
=Government has lost the most jobs since January 2010, down -33,200.=

We thank Gov Quinn for this. He is on roll closing down state facilities, mostly in southern Illinois.

Comment by rusty618 Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 12:46 pm
rusty618 - I notice a Daily Herald article on the news feed that 5 state prisons have been locked down during the past week due to violence.

Coincidence, I’m sure.

Comment by Keep Calm and Carry On Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 1:04 pm
Yet somehow, amazingly, friends of Pat Quinn, Mike Madigan et all have landed on their feet quite nicely despite high unemployment.

Comment by Just Me Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 1:29 pm
==The state rate has been lower than the national rate only six times since January 2000. ==

That’s not a good thing. We haven’t managed to beat the average more than 6 times in almost 14 years?

Comment by Demoralized Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 1:59 pm
Also the fourth consecutive month they have jacked up the prior year’s unemployment rate.

Does anyone know if the department lumps public school teachers into the “government” field?

Comment by Dirty Red Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 2:45 pm
We have one of the poorest business climates in the world. Workers comp way more expensive than surrounding states. Job killers Mike Madigan ,John Cullerton, Pat Quinn, running the State like the Marx Brothers. Who would relocate to this state? You would set up corporate office’s but never any manufacturing jobs. We are never ever going to solve our pension problems.

Imagine any state burning thru 17 million a day and not caring.

Comment by Mokenavince Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 3:19 pm
Hmm Pat Quinn, Madigan, Cullerton, take a bow. years and years of control and you have destroyed Illinois economy. But thanks to gerrymandered districts nothing will be done, your complete control is assured as you destroy our children’s and grand children’s future.

Comment by Fed up Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 4:08 pm
=== We have one of the poorest business climates in the world. ===

Huh?

Illinois has the 5th largest economy in the United States and ranks 15th in terms of GDP per capita. That has not significantly changed in recent years.

Illinois also has lower governmental spending that any other urban state and aggregate state and local taxation is lower than in the other urban states.

Comment by Bill White Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 4:33 pm
Aggregate state and local government spending in Illinois is below the national average:

http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/compare_state_spending_2013pF0c

Comment by Bill White Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 4:37 pm
And when the annual BLS revision comes out at the end of the year like it always does we will once again see the lies and insignificance of fixating on the BLS labor reports.

Who cares about “jobs employers have posted” ?

We know how the game is played. 100K, 200K, 400K positions posted doesn’t mean they intend to hire anyone or that the jobs actually exist.

Case in point. How many ghost positions in the public sector did Chicago claim to wipe off the slate with the last budget? I say claim because you know as soon as they take them off here, they add them back over there.

The same goes for the private sector as employers attempt to create an illusion for the college crowd that there is a shortage in their industry and they just are unable to find qualified people.

This way wages and jobs can be churned down as the department managers with inflated manpower request can pat themselves on the back because they are under budget.

So yeah, don’t tell us about the number of positions advertised like they are positions to be filled. It’s just not so and we know it. At least some of us do.

Meanwhile, if you Google it. You’ll find that 80% of the jobs created in 2013 have been part-time positions. Just keep fixating on the jobs numbers like all jobs are alike though.

It’s simple to fix the unemployment number if that’s all you care about. Just take one million full-time jobs and turn them into two million or three million part-time temporary jobs WOO-HOO see that job growth!! Hey, but why isn’t the economy coming back unemployment is down hahaha.

That’s the game my friends — think about it.

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 5:53 pm
Anyone following what’s going on at the Fukushima power plant?

USA media is too busy showing OBama’s dinner party with the Miami Dolphins, so of course not.

Try Googling that.

Meanwhile as Obama attempts to create the image of being anti-pollution while the democratic governor of Illinois is touting coal exports and how he wants to double them.

Talk about a party in disarray eh?

Quin told us the coal exports would create good paying jobs in Illinois but I haven’t seen them.

More recently I did see wage cuts and layoffs for one coal company in Illinois though, so go figure.

Where’s the jobs? Where?

Anyways, once again what a quandary this energy policy of ours is eh. Which way you want to check out. Suffocating via the high sulfur coal or the hundreds of tons a day of radioactive waste TEMPCO is pumping into the Pacific right now as we speak WITH NO END IN SIGHT.

THE EXPERTS HAVE ADMITTED THAT THEY HAVE NO PLAN AT FUKUSHIMA — THAT THE TECHNOLOGY TO FIX IT CURRENTLY DOESN’T EXIST!!!!

Comment by Anonymous Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 6:15 pm
Oh well. I suppose holding our own with employment is at least better than a HIGHer U. rate–at least we can take a bit of solace in THAT much. But it ain’t anything much to write home about either…. And yet, the overall Economy in the U.S. has remained sluggish in some Regions–we’re hardly altogether out of the woods yet from the “GREAT RECESSION.”

Comment by Just The Way It Is One Tuesday, Aug 20, 13 @ 7:37 pm