The Jobs Crisis in Obama's Illinois : Chicago Tribune Editorial

The Chicago Tribune has an editorial on the failed state of Illinois:

Illinois has fewer jobs today than it did a decade ago. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Illinois nonfarm employment totaled just under 5.7 million jobs in November 2009 -- down from more than 6 million jobs in November 1999. To add context: While Illinois was shedding some 367,000 jobs, the BLS says, total U.S. nonfarm employment increased by about 1 million jobs, to 132.2 million.

-- Illinois ranked a dismal 48th in job creation during the decade from 1997 to 2007 according to "Rich States, Poor States," a 2009 report by the American Legislative Exchange Council. Only Ohio and Michigan, which have been rusting away for three decades while states friendlier to employers were growing new jobs, performed worse.

Barack Obama was part of the high spending , high regulation , pro-union movement in the Illinois state Senate. As the Trib points out: there's much better places to do business. For more on Chicago's decline.