Illinois Unemployment Exceeds California’s

The one state arguably more troubled than California is Illinois.

Unions, union sympathizers, socialists, and tax-hike proponents are strongly in control of both states. Is it any wonder  that perpetual economic difficulties and insurmountable pension underfundings face both states?

Via email, Ted Dabrowski at the Illinois Policy Institute writes …

 Unhappy Anniversary

Six months ago, Illinois overtook California to become the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, behind only Nevada. It hasn’t budged since.

Last week’s release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics detailed yet another month of stalled unemployment numbers for Illinois. The state’s August unemployment rate remained at 9.2% — 1.9 percentage points above the national average, which fell to 7.3% in August.

Compared to its neighbors, Illinois fared even worse. The state’s unemployment rate is now a full 2 percentage points above its neighbors’ average, which fell to 7.2% from 7.3% one month earlier.

Illinois’ unemployment rate has remained above 9% since December of last year.

Illinois Unemployment Gap

The number of unemployed Illinoisans also remains high, at 602,000. This is the third month in a row the number of unemployed has remained above 600,000.

Illinois’ most recent U-6 unemployment rate is 16.1%, meaning more than 1 million Illinoisans are unemployed or underemployed.

Five years after the end of the Great Recession, Illinois still has an unemployment rate nearly 5 percentage points higher than its pre-recession average and there are 147,000 fewer Illinoisans in the labor force compared to August 2007.

The state is still missing 177,000 nonfarm payroll jobs compared to August 2007.

Six months of the second-highest unemployment rate is no anniversary to be proud of.

Ted Dabrowski

Inquiring minds should also take a look at Fiscal Crisis in Chicago: Pensions 31% Funded, Moody’s Downgrades Debt 3 Notches, Pension Liability is $61,000 Per Household; Mish’s Proposed Solutions

About the Author:  Mike Shedlock is the editor of the top-rated global economics blog Mish’s Global Economic Trend Analysis, offering insightful commentary every day of the week. He is also a contributing “professor” on Minyanville, a community site focused on economic and financial education. Every Thursday he does a podcast on HoweStreet and on an ad hoc basis he contributes to many other websites, including UnionWatch.