Miller points to Springfield as cause of Illinois’ mass layoffs, business closures

[January 30, 2025]  By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

(The Center Square) – Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller says he speaks from painful experience when it comes to the subject of the state’s long struggling job market.

“I'm a small business owner myself and I know that because of the Biden, Harris and Pritzker economic policies, it's caused massive inflation, which has been a real hardship for everyday working-class Illinoisans,” Miller told The Center Square. “They've made things unaffordable in the state and it's all the result of bad public policy.”

New state data shows at least 14,723 Illinoisans lost their jobs due to mass layoffs in 2024, with roughly two-thirds of those separations stemming from businesses that were shuttered. During the month of December alone, companies added another 670 layoffs, with business closures accounting for 518 of them.

With the state’s unemployment rate jumping to 5.3% as recently as November and Illinois already being home to the second highest property and corporate income taxes in the country, Miller says residents have suffered enough.

“I think it would be helpful if the Pritzker side of the aisle would just understand Econ 101,” he said. “If they could understand that businesses are in business to make money for themselves, and they aren't there to be taxed and overburdened with regulations. I mean, anytime that they raise taxes and regulations, that makes it harder for businesses to survive. We've seen businesses flee Illinois and it's because of the burden that they've laid at the feet of these businesses in a very, in a very competitive environment.”

Illinois state Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland
Greg Bishop / The Center Square

Miller sais the state's policies need to change.

“I think that if you have even an ounce of common sense you could see that your public policies are devastating to the business climate and to the hardworking families in Illinois,” he said. “But to date, I haven't seen our governor or any members of the legislature on the left side of the aisle being willing to take ownership of anything.”

In the end, Miller argues he sees just one way to bring about the level of change he’s convinced is needed.

“Nothing's going to change as long as the Democrats are in charge,” he said. “I mean, every bad public policy, they are 100% in charge of the devastation that we've seen take place in Illinois. Everything, every problem that has occurred in the state lies directly at their feet. They have a super-majority and they can do anything that they want to do and their policies have caused the destruction and the devastation that we're living out in real time in our state.”

Under the WARN Act, state employers are required by law to file monthly mass layoff reports if they have upwards of 75 full time employees.

All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved