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The data from the Illinois Policy Institute show the state lost
9,500 jobs in June.
The industries hit the hardest in Illinois during June were the
professional and business services sector, which lost 5,400
jobs. The manufacturing industry lost 2,100 jobs, and the trade,
transportation, and utilities sector lost 2,000 jobs in the
month.
Chris Davis of the National Federation of Independent Businesses
says small businesses in Illinois are also struggling to find
qualified workers.
"In July, 61% of business owners either hired or are trying to
hire, which is up from previous months," Davis said. "Of those
trying to hire, 92% of business owners report fewer or no
qualified applicants."
In addition, a report released in July examines the Illinois
Department of Employment Security from 2020 through 2022 and
highlights the agency's handling of the state's unemployment
funds.
On Tuesday, Pritzker discussed the fraudulent benefit payments,
downplaying the seriousness of Illinois having such a
significant amount of lost funds.
"Across the entire United States, there were hundreds of
billions of dollars that were lost. In Illinois, it was $3
billion in the federal program and $2 billion in the regular UI
program," Pritzker said. "No one tried to do that."
Pritzker said Illinois did "better" than other states as well.
"In fact, California, just to give you an example, $20 billion
of regular UI fraud, we had two [billion] here. New York $8
billion, we had two here," Pritzker said. "Even on a population
base, we did better."
In March, Pritzker said Illinois is the best spot in the nation
to do business.
According to the IPI numbers, Illinois' June unemployment rate
of 4% was the fifth-worst in the nation, with 45 other states
having rates below 4%.
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