economy

Manufacturing is leading the way. Over the last year, manufacturing payrolls accounted for close to half of the total increase of jobs in Illinois.

It seems that the company with over half a million employees is feeling the need for more space.

Why is our state hemorrhaging so many people and so much money to surrounding states?

We haven't had a working budget in the Land of Lincoln for years. We've got pension problems galore, the highest property taxes in the nation, and a pile of overdue bills that would make the strongest desk sag under the weight. So really, could any state be in worse economic shape that we are? In a word: yes.

Being big supporters of the Rockford Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (RACVB) as we are around here, we often salute the efforts of the RACVB to market Rockford as a travel destination to people outside our area. According to some new numbers released this week, we have good reason to applaud.

Since the Great Recession, it's been a very tough comeback for many, many communities across the nation, Rockford included. For some, that comeback has been slow and steady, but for others...not so much.

We've talked before about how Illinois often ranks highly on lists that a state might not be very proud of, and how we rate poorly on the lists that states really want to be on. Unfortunately, Illinois has received yet another poor ranking when it comes to state's economies.

The month of September brought more discouraging news for the Illinois economy. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the state lost 6,900 payroll jobs on net while the state’s unemployment rate fell to 5.4 percent...