Stats: Illinois’ Budget Mess
July 30, 2010
Below is a presentation on Illinois’ mounting debt crisis and some discouraging unemployment numbers for your reference. Click on the picture below to download the entire presentation.
Budget Facts
• The total cumulative deficit run by the State of Illinois will be approximately $13.0 billion this year (Source: Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA)).
• In addition, State-managed pension and retirement funds have accumulated a total actuarial deficit that approximates $94.3 billion (Source: Pew Center on the States). The total debt of the State and its sub-entities approximates $107.3 billion.
• The $107.3 billion debt, when divided by Illinois household, tops $23,200 per Illinois household – which is more than the equity that many Illinois families have in their private homes. There are 4.59 million households in Illinois (Source: U.S. Census Bureau).
• The same $107.3 billion debt, when divided by Illinois resident, tops $8,250 per Illinois resident. There are 12.91 million residents in Illinois (Source: U.S. Census Bureau). In other words, each Illinois resident, when he or she starts out in life, bears a total debt burden roughly equivalent to the typical debt that a college graduate owes for a year of tuition at a typical Illinois public community college or university – but without receiving, in return, any valuable skills or job training in exchange for this debt.
• That means the State’s red ink continues to grow at more than $684,000 per hour, more than $11,000 per minute, and more than $190 per second.
Unemployment Statistics
• As measured by the federal government, the Illinois unemployment rate was 10.8% in May 2010. The running average for the past four months is 11.3%. Illinois’s May unemployment rate was 1.1% above the national average, which was 9.7% (Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)).
• Illinois’s unemployment rate was the 43rd worst among the 51 states (+D.C.) in May 2010. Only seven states (California, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Rhode Island, and South Carolina) had higher unemployment rates in May 2010 (Source: BLS).
• Many states with economic challenges comparable to Illinois had lower unemployment rates than Illinois in May 2010. For example: Ohio – 10.7%; New Jersey – 9.7%; Pennsylvania – 9.1%; New York – 8.3%; and Minnesota – 7.0%. These are all urbanized Northeastern and Midwestern states with traditional industrial economies (Source: BLS).
All of the states that border Illinois had lower unemployment rates than Illinois in May 2010. Their rates were: Kentucky – 10.4%; Indiana – 10.0%; Missouri – 9.3%; Wisconsin – 8.2%; and Iowa – 6.8% (Source: BLS)
Comments
Meet House Republican Leader Tom Cross:
Tom Cross is serving his eighth term in the Illinois General Assembly as the District 84 State Representative. First elected in 1992, his current district includes northeastern Oswego Township in Kendall County, portions of Troy and Wheatland Townships in Will County, Plainfield Township in Will County, and part of Naperville Township in DuPage County.
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