Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolis) | Photo Courtesy of Adam Niemerg
Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Teutopolis) | Photo Courtesy of Adam Niemerg
Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy laments the state's poor economic recovery, nationally.
The state is 45th overall in that quarter.
“State-specific numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics late last month re-enforce what we’ve known all along – Democrat-run states like Illinois are having a hard time in the recovery process,” Tracy posted in his weekly briefing email. “In June, we learned that Illinois had an unemployment rate of 7.1 percent – 1.3 percent higher than the national average and ninth highest rate in the union.
Tracy says it's no surprise.
“Unlike a majority of red states that have seen job recovery rates at 70+ percent, the state has yet to crack 50 percent, with only 44.4 percent of jobs lost due to the pandemic recovered he added. “Yet, opportunities for the Biden and Prtizker administrations to step in and work to protect job creators and get Illinoisans – any by extension our state’s economy - back on track have not been taken.”
Tracy recently blasted the governor’s policies as a “sociologist approach to economics” that could be causing the economy to stall even more.
“A big step Pritzker and Biden could take would be to end the extra $300 a month being added to current unemployment benefits,” he said. “Despite their denials, the government choosing to pad unemployment benefits is forcing small businesses to compete with the federal government handing out free money for little or no effort.”
In Illinois, GOP state Reps. Adam Niemerg and Blaine Wilhour are among those pushing the governor to end extra unemployment payments as a way of encouraging more people back to work.
"It is time to get back to normal and get back to work. Businesses need good employees to help move our economy in the right direction for families," Niemerg wrote in a Facebook post.
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