Rock Island Today

As many states economically recover from the ramifications of COVID-19, Illinois is among a handful of states that have struggled to keep par with the rest of the country.

As of this August, Illinois is 1.4% behind the nation in job recovery following the economic downturn beginning in March 2020. The state is still missing 89,000 jobs and has the third highest unemployment rate nationally at 4.4%.

"Illinois' economy and our workers continue to suffer under the mismanaged economy of Mike Halpin and the Democrats in Springfield. The high taxes and burdensome regulations that have made doing business in Illinois harder are now causing our economic recovery to lag behind neighboring states," Mike Thoms, Republican senate candidate, told Rock Island Today. "With new economic numbers showing that Illinois' unemployment rate is the third highest in the nation and the highest in the Midwest, the people of the 36th District deserve a Senator in Springfield that will fight to cut taxes and limit regulations so that job creators and workers can stay here at home. We deserve better than the disastrous economic policies of Mike Halpin."

With policy decisions that have intensified the threat of recession, Illinois will be put in a difficult, precarious position as the flexibility of the state's budget is minimal due to pension obligations and a $1.8 billion unemployment trust fund deficit, according to Illinois Policy.

The state spent roughly $5 billion trying to mitigate the negative economic implications of lockdowns once COVID-19 began. The money was tied to Congress' State and Local Recovery Fund Relief Package, which the Biden administration backed. The funds were given to steady state budgets and fund operating costs to sustain public service costs.

As of July 1, Illinois has a combined state and local tax rate of 8.73%, ranking eighth in the nation. The state tax rate is 6.25%, and the average local tax rate is 2.48%, which maxes out at 5.25%.

According to the Bureau of Economic Statistics, in 2020, Rock Island ranked 14th in Illinois for Real GDP at 9,105,484 (thousands of chained 2012 dollars), down 1.6% from 2019.