Illinois Loses 80,000 Workers in One Year

Big Government reports:

President Barack Obama's home state, which has been governed by Democrats throughout his national political career, has slipped in the rankings and now has the third-worst unemployment rate in the nation. Though the jobless rate was the same in December 2013 (8.6%) as in December 2012, the state's labor force declined by a staggering 80,000 workers, according to Michael Lucci of the Illinois Policy Institute.

Across the same period, the national unemployment rate fell by 1.3%--though that, too, was partly driven by an exodus of workers from the labor force, albeit less dramatic than in Illinois. Lucci observes: 'The state now suffers from its worst labor force participation rate since June 1978. It has been nearly 36 years since such a small percent of the working-age population in Illinois found it worthwhile to search for work."

Nothing looking good for the 2020 Census.