Courtesy of Mish.
The one state arguably more screwed up 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….
