South Cook News

Illinois GOP candidate for governor Darren Bailey blasts Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s economic leadership after recent unemployment numbers show Illinois has the worst unemployment of any state.

“The negative effect of JB Pritzker’s lockdown of our economy continues to linger. Illinois now has the worst unemployment rate of all 50 states. We should be a leader for job growth and job opportunities but under JB Pritzker’s watch, our economy continues to lag behind. We deserve better than the failed leadership and failed policies of JB Pritzker,” Bailey said. 

According to The Center Square, new unemployment numbers show that Illinois has the worst numbers in the country. With an unemployment rate of 4.5%, Illinois finished 50th on the list, only in front of the District of Columbia. 

Bryce Hill, director of fiscal and economic research for the Illinois Policy Institute explained, “We are still missing nearly 89,000 jobs, 1 in 9, more than any neighboring state besides Wisconsin. Payrolls are also 1.5% lower than during COVID." 

Hill said that the state lost 3,000 employers due to its economic policies during COVID. Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis (R- Taylorville) lambasted state lawmakers for having the wrong priorities during the pandemic: “They're not worried about changing polices that encourage job growth and encourage manufacturing to relocate here…We have a labor force problem in a high unemployment area, that should tell you there are failures of policies at a state level when other states aren't experiencing the same thing.”  

Illinois’ unemployment rate is well above the national average of 3.5%, and it is more than two points higher than Missouri’s unemployment rate of 2.4%.

In October of 2020, Spiro Roumpas, the operator of Ki’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant, decided to defy Pritzker’s lockdown order, and he was greeted with an outpouring of support from the community and from people across the country.

“My plan is not to shut down. I just want to be here for my people. I haven’t forced any employees to come in and I won’t, and I am not forcing customers to come in," Roumpas told DuPage Policy Journal. 

The restaurant employs close to 40 people, and Roumpas said that the governor’s lockdown policy was unconstitutional and was killing businesses. He also explained that his decision was not political but rather economic; he has bills to pay and so do the people who work for him. 

When the restaurant was defying the order, the restaurant posted on Facebook, “We are standing up for freedom and WE WILL STAY OPEN! We have been in business for 80+ years and no one is going to tell us we can’t live out the American dream.”

The group ReOpen Illinois does not want voters to forget what Pritzker did to them during COVID. 

“JB killed Illinois businesses, forced thousands out of work, closed your schools, masked your kids, all while his family escaped to their Florida horse ranch. Now we wants you to rehire him. His arrogance is mind blowing,” the group said in a Facebook post.

The post ended with a hashtag saying, "#firepritzker."