 Illinois has maintained the horrible distinction of having the nation’s highest
black unemployment rate for the 15th month in a row, according to a new analysis
from the Economic Policy Institute, or EPI. Illinois’ black unemployment rate is
14.2 percent, compared to the next highest state, Pennsylvania, at 11.8 percent.
Illinois’ slow economic growth and weak industrial job creation, along with
heavy regulations on occupational licensing and poor school options for many
minority children have had a pronounced effect on black job opportunities.
Ironically, for almost the same duration of time that Illinois has had the
highest black unemployment rate, Illinois’ Democratic legislative leaders have
insisted economic reforms are unnecessary for Illinois’ economy, putting them at
odds with Gov. Bruce Rauner.
House Speaker Mike Madigan, in particular, has painted Rauner’s economic growth
legislation as an attempt to decrease the wages and standard of living for
middle class Illinoisans. This begs the question of what Madigan considers to be
the standard of living for minorities who can’t find work in Illinois at any
wage level. With the highest black unemployment in the country, too many
Illinoisans are learning first hand about the standard of living they’re
condemned to in Madigan’s Illinois.
The difference between the white unemployment rate and the black unemployment
rate is greater in Illinois than in any other state. According to the EPI’s
study, Illinois’ black unemployment rate is 14.2 percent and Illinois’ white
unemployment rate is 4.9 percent.
While policymakers aren’t working to alleviate this problem, Chicago and Cook
County have made it worse. Cook County, following Chicago’s lead, enacted an
ordinance to raise the county’s minimum wage to $13 per hour and then tie
increases to inflation. However, research shows that minimum wage hikes hurt
employment prospects, especially for low-skilled and minority communities.
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 A National Bureau of Economic Research survey of minimum wage
studies found that minimum wage increases especially affect the
least-skilled workers in the economy. In particular:
the studies that focus on the least-skilled groups provide
relatively overwhelming evidence of stronger disemployment
effects for these groups.
Cook County is home to 1.26 million of Illinois’ black residents,
out of Illinois’ 1.89 million total black residents. That means the
minimum wage ordinances passed in Chicago and Cook County affect two
out of three black residents in Illinois. These laws effectively ban
job opportunities that might otherwise employ young black men and
women in the Chicago area.
There are a number of solutions to tackle the unemployment problem.
The first solution is to stop digging a deeper hole with minimum
wage hikes and roll back the misguided minimum wage hikes in Chicago
and Cook County. Black communities would benefit disproportionately
from laws allowing for school choice and education savings accounts,
along with changes to the criminal justice system to make it easier
for ex-offenders to re-enter the workforce. In addition, all
Illinoisans would benefit from stronger economic growth and more
business investment, especially in blue-collar lines of work like
manufacturing and transportation.
Illinois political leaders should be ashamed of the crisis of black
unemployment in the Land of Lincoln. This problem should become a
top priority for policy leaders, and a reform agenda should be
enacted to reverse the trend of black unemployment in Illinois.
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