The most dysfunctional state in America? Soaring unemployment, sky-rocketing ... trends now
Move over California and New York, a new state is in contention for the 'most dysfunctional' in America.
Illinois is grappling with a string of issues which have triggered a rise in residents departing the state.
The state has struggled to add jobs and its public pension debt has ballooned to nearly $150 billion. Meanwhile, its population has declined, hurting tax income.
Conservative thinktanks have now grouped Illinois with other blue states like New York and California, which have also faced an exodus amid issues ranging from immigration to crime.
'Unemployment rates are very high; wage growth is lagging compared to most other states,' said Bryce Hill, the director of fiscal and economic research at the Illinois Policy Institute.
Hill told the Daily Caller: 'The Census Bureau has reported that residents are leaving the state en masse to the tune of hundreds of thousands every single year, so much so that the state's population has actually been declining for the past 10 years.
Illinois is grappling with a string of issues which have triggered a rise in residents departing the state - which has been touted as one of the 'most dysfunctional' in America. Pictured: Chicago, the most populous city in Illinois
Governor J.B. Pritzker has defended his record in office and told a state of the state and budget address in February that his administration has 'grown Illinois' economy to over $1 trillion'
'So on any metric, quantitatively on outcomes, Illinois’ economy is lagging.'
Census Bureau data reveals the population fell by around 32,826 people in the year to July 2023. The population of 12,549,689 was also more than a quarter of a million less than in April 2020.
Illinois' pension debt also grew by $2.6 billion last year to reach $142.3 billion in unfunded liabilities, state data shows.
A September 2022 report by Equable said it has the second worst funded state pension in the country after Kentucky.
State accountants also project it will have a budget deficit of $891 million in the next fiscal
