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* The full Crain’s interview is here. Here’s Greg Hinz…
Illinois is back, attracting new employers and jobs — and it’s in the best position in many years to further boost its economy. […]
The state’s attractiveness to business “is the best it’s been in a long time,” Pritzker said during questioning by Crain’s Group Publisher and Executive Editor Jim Kirk. “We never had a story to tell. Nobody had put that story together. People didn’t know what was great before about this state. Now they do.”
“We’re now in discussions with 25 companies, big companies with billions to invest and up to 4,000 jobs,” he added. “Companies are coming to us. They want to do business in Illinois.” […]
Illinois in recent years has attracted 20% more people with college degrees than it’s graduated from Illinois colleges and universities, but Florida is 10% short, the governor said. That means Illinois has the young, educated talent that businesses want, and that’s what’s driving the state’s turnaround, despite chatter about Florida’s lower tax rates. Illinois has tried to accentuate those trends by expanding scholarship aid to Illinois residents who stay home for higher education from $400 million a year when he took office to $700 million a year now. Where students had to wait and hope for help before, “Everyone that applies now that is eligible gets a scholarship.”
More from the interview…
Nine states in the country have more college graduates in their state today than they graduated. So you’ve got in-migration in nine states of college graduates. Those are the highest value workers, the ones who produce the most income, etc. We’re one of those nine. We have 20 percent more college graduates in Illinois than we produce. Florida has 11 percent fewer college graduates than they produce. So we’re fifth in the country in terms of the in-migration of college graduates … So we’ve got to say, people who are down on Illinois are not looking at the right indicators of our future.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* Marni Pyke…
The state and other stakeholders will resolve a looming $730 million annual shortfall facing Metra, Pace and the CTA in 2026, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday.
The funding gap emerged after COVID-19 decimated ridership. It’s an issue transit agencies across the U.S. are facing, Pritzker said at a Crain’s event.
“We need subways and trains and buses and it’s vital to our economy. We’re going to do whatever is necessary,” said Pritzker, who also mentioned fares but without specifics.
“The General Assembly and I and the federal government, we all have to address it,” he noted.
* Fox 32…
During the conversation, Governor Pritzker and Crain’s delved into topics surrounding economic development in Illinois, with a significant focus on electric vehicles (EVs). The discussion kicked off with an exploration of how the recent Stellantis strike was resolved.
Governor Pritzker revealed that his office, in collaboration with the White House, played a role in resolving the strike. The outcome saw the reopening of the Stellantis plant in Belvidere, where the production focus has shifted to electric vehicles and batteries.
Addressing the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant on the city’s Southeast Side, Governor Pritzker mentioned spatial constraints for battery production. However, he expressed optimism about the potential conversion of the plant to build EVs in the future.
“You can convert almost anything, but if you’re gonna have a battery plant nearby, which is typically what’s happened, you’re gonna do it on a larger footprint. I am hopeful that we will get at least the assembly plant continued and growing. Again, battery, not sure,” said Pritzker.
He didn’t express optimism about converting the Ford factory to an EV plant. He said “they haven’t said no” to an EV plant, but there are real space problems at that site. And, in fact, he revealed that he feels only “somewhat confident that we’re going to maintain the plant that is there now.”
Not a good sign.
* Center Square…
“Violent crime has been coming down, actually for three years, but in particular over the last year,” Pritzker said. “Shootings and murders have come down significantly. Again, it doesn’t make anyone feel safer to just hear a statistic; it will take some time, but that is something people should know.”
While Chicago has seen murders drop by 10% in 2023, other major crimes have significantly increased, as car thefts are up 52% and robberies by 25%.
“[Chicago Police Department] publishes statistics where you can see where the problem areas are with car thefts and robberies and so on, but shootings and murders have come down significantly,” Pritzker said. […]
Pritzker also discussed the state of business in Illinois. In the past few years, the state has seen significant companies like Boeing, McDonald’s and Citadel leave. Some are leaving the state because of high taxes and crime.
“Everyone wants to go back and focus on Citadel leaving, but the truth is we have attracted, seriously, like a half of dozen pretty significant expansions and or headquarters,” Pritzker said.
Pritzker said they have gained more jobs through these expansions than they lost due to Citadel and others leaving.
“We have many more jobs created as a result of those expansions and the new headquarters than were lost by virtue of the companies you guys like to cite,” Pritzker said. “I know everybody was down in Illinois for so many years, and it was easy to be.”
…Adding… McDonald’s actually didn’t even leave. Last I checked, most of Citadel’s employees are still in Chicago. Boeing still has a large presence.
That article is a mess. I probably shouldn’t have even posted it.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:11 am
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Violent crime, a term defined by the FBI, includes the murder, criminal sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated battery categories on CPD’s chart.
Criminal sexual assaults are up in comparison to every year since 2019. Robberies are way, way up compared to those years. Aggravated battery has increased from last year but is down compared to earlier years. And, yes, while murders have declined, they remain 23% higher than 2019.
Overall, Chicago’s violent crime is up 18.3% compared to 2019, according to CPD’s “CompStat” data. It’s up 16.8% compared to 2020. It’s up 17.1% versus 2021. And it’s up 6.3% compared to last year.
Seems Pritzker and Trump both know just keep telling the lie eventually people will believe it
Comment by observer Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:23 am
He is in charge, on top of things and is like an athlete in his prime. But I am sure this is not the narrative that some will spin. At the end of the day, if he wins, we win.
Comment by levivotedforjudy Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:30 am
I look back and chuckle at all the people from 2018 saying they were holding off on buying property in IL, because the state was about to go bankrupt. Or all the people who moved at retirement to avoid the high ‘Illinois income taxes’.
In the long term, all that short term propaganda might have been a good thing. If there is a downside of having fewer residents with poor decision making skills, I’m not seeing it.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:40 am
Kudo’s to Center Square for publishing the scoop that McDonald’s moved its HQ out of Illinois — info so fresh it comes as news to the company itself…in the West Loop…~
Comment by Math(usually)Doesn'tLie Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:46 am
It’s nice to have a cheerleader
Something Rauner and a lot of Republicans seemed incapable of doing, if they even wanted to
Comment by Nick Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:48 am
“Illinois in recent years has attracted 20% more people with college degrees than it’s graduated”
That is good and helps ensure Illinois doesn’t turn into a low income red state. Florida, on the other had, is deliberately dumbing down its state with its anti “woke” crusade, which may have jumped the shark nationally, per school board elections this month.
Comment by Grandson of Man Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 10:55 am
== all the people who moved at retirement to avoid the high ‘Illinois income taxes’. ==
Given that Illinois is one of the few states that excludes ALL retirement income from being taxed, I never understood that argument.
As a retiree, I get moving for a warmer climate. But, as I pointed out to several friends who moved south, it doesn’t make much economic sense. Unless you are moving from Cook or Dupage county, housing is higher in the more desirable areas of the south. Yes, the property taxes can be lower, but that is one of the few savings areas. Sales taxes tend to be more or less comparable.
Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 11:04 am
In the past few years, the state has seen significant companies like Boeing, McDonald’s and Citadel leave. Some are leaving the state because of high taxes and crime.
Not a single one left because of “crime”, let’s be real.
Comment by The Truth Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 11:23 am
===Not a single one left because of===
McDonald’s actually didn’t even leave. Last I checked, most of Citadel’s employees are still in Chicago. Boeing still has a large presence.
That article is a mess. I probably shouldn’t have even posted it. lol
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 11:47 am
Let’s just celebrate the fact the governor and Crain’s are well on their way to being friends once again.
Comment by DisappointedVoter Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 12:06 pm
Florida. As an immigrant to Illinois, think people bray too much about taxes, not enough about climate. Florida’s growth in the last 20ish years makes me think when you read great quote from the late Molly Ivins, replace “Houston” with “Florida.”
“Houston is Los Angeles with the climate of Calcutta.”
Comment by Anyone Remember Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 1:00 pm
With regard to the Center Square article, the crime numbers are also suspect. They represent truisms (half true, half false) in that the frame of reference is missing.
If a year over year comparison is being made, then we might expect a high degree of variance in statistics - or none at all. Comparing two years does not really tell us anything about time trends, except that two years differ. Missing is are explanation for why these two years differ, and whether the first year differed from the past.
Longitudinal data is a better analysis than two points in time. With the former, you get trends. With the latter, you get political pundits.
Comment by H-W Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 2:22 pm
===So you’ve got in-migration in nine states of college graduates. ====
This claim isn’t something I would be encouraging the Governor to make.
===Illinois in recent years has attracted 20% more people with college degrees than it’s graduated from Illinois colleges and universities===
Quite a few of Illinois public universities have suffered significant decline in enrollment and the tuition costs to attend — in state — are so high that it has to be a joke but it isn’t, and it certainly isn’t competitive compared to our neighboring states and most of our schools are well above the national average for in state tuition costs. Schools in other states actively target Illinois children with ads and every year thousands of graduating high school seniors leave Illinois for educational opportunities that we either don’t provide, or are so expensive they’re unappealing compared to their alternatives.
While it’s great people graduate from university and come to Illinois — a fair number of those people are just returning and some of our universities are at significant risk because of their struggle to maintain enrollment.
The Governor is doing an overall great job, but I would not be comfortable with using a talking point that attracts attention to a gaping wound that can’t be solved without more revenue.
===That article is a mess.===
It isn’t you, Rich. Thanks for helping to point out what a mess Center Square is.
Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, Nov 28, 23 @ 11:37 pm