Macon Reporter

Decatur was once a strong economic city, according to GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey.

Recent reports showed it lost nearly 3,000 jobs. 

“The Decatur Metro area has lost 2,864 jobs thanks to the inept leadership of J.B. Pritzker," Bailey said. "Decatur at one time was an economic powerhouse for the state and it can still be that in the future as long as our leaders make job creation the priority it needs to be. There are blueprints for how to do this. Florida has seen tremendous job growth in recent years and so has North Carolina. We are not going to grow the Illinois economy [by] continuing on the current path of high taxes, over-regulation and other hostile policies to job growth. Instead of making nannies fill out time sheets and other inane rules we have in Illinois – how about we look at what is working in other states and implement those policies here? The numbers don’t lie. The numbers show JB Pritzker's policies are driving jobs out of our state.”

Decatur's employment numbers dropped by 6.2% (from 46,492 to 43,628), according to the latest figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicating downturns across Illinois from January 2019 to June 2022. Springfield recorded a 1.5% employment drop (from 102,108 to 100,529, difference of 1,579). Kankakee had the largest decline in employment at 6.4% (from 52,830 to 49,431, a difference of 3,399) followed by Rockford with a 6.2% decline in employment numbers (from 158,466 to 148,575, a difference of 9,891). 

Danville's employment lowered by 5.3% (from 31,359 to 29,684, difference of 1,675), Peoria's decreased by 4.5% (from 168,268 to 160,778, difference of 7,490), Carbondale-Marion's decreased by 2.9% (from 57,715 to 56,052, difference of 1,663), Davenport-Moline-Rock Island's decreased by 2.4% (from 186,409 to 181,871, difference of 4,538), Chicago-Naperville-Elgin's dropped by 1.7% (from 4,788,931 to 4,707,375, difference of 81,556) and Bloomington's dropped by 1.2% (from 92,184 to 91,105, difference of 1,079). Champaign-Urbana was the only area that had an increase in employment numbers but only by 0.2% (from 118,669 to 118,888, a difference of 219).

The Republican gubernatorial nominee slammed the governor, saying that "Pritzker's priorities are misguided." Bailey's comment came on the heels of the tightening regulations on temporary workers like babysitters and caretakers. 

“The last thing we need in Illinois is more red tape, more rules and more regulations. If we want to grow our economy and be a leader for jobs and opportunities in the Midwest, we need to prioritize policies that will create jobs not jeopardize the ones we have," he said. 

Bailey called them "silly bureaucratic rules" that won’t grow the economy. 

"Families are wondering how to afford to gas up their cars and purchase basic household necessities and the focus of the Pritzker administration is making sure people fill out time sheets for their nannies? It is no wonder we are losing jobs and opportunities here in Illinois,” Bailey said, according to Prairie State Wire. 

Recently, corporate offices of many businesses have relocated outside of the state. The most successful manufacturer of aircraft in the world, Boeing, announced their plan to leave Illinois at the beginning of May, NBC 5 Chicago reported. The massive aerospace company, which was founded in Washington, relocated to Chicago in 2001. Nearly 16,000 jobs, or more than 10% of the whole workforce of the company, were lost as a result of the epidemic.

The relocation of the corporate headquarters to Irving, Texas was announced by Caterpillar on June 14. According to Jim Umpleby, chairman and CEO of Caterpillar, the decision was made in the best "strategic interest" of the company. Only the 230 employees at the corporate headquarters would be impacted, according to a statement from Caterpillar, according to Chicago Tribune.

Citadel Securities, a company owned by billionaire Ken Griffin, noted its move to Miami from Chicago was based on insecurity. 

“The firms are having difficulty recruiting top talent from across the world to Chicago given the rising and senseless violence in the city,”Zia Ahmed, a Citadel spokesman, told The New York Times. “Talent wants to live in cities where they feel safe.” 

Griffin bankrolled Richard Irvin’s campaign with an approximate $50 million, Will County Gazette reported.