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Data shows the state now employs some 55,340 workers, with many
of the more recent hires coming at social services agencies such
as the Department of Children and Family Services and the
Department of Human Services.
“We have as severe a budget issue this year as we've had since
the Great Recession and this is going to be extremely
challenging to find out how to pay for these new jobs,” Glennon
told The Center Square. “It just reflects an entirely
upside-down mentality that's out of touch with the reality of
the economics and what people want. Any growth that we’ve had in
jobs is coming from the government.”
While some state leaders are heralding the new staff additions
as the byproduct of a more efficient and productive system,
Glennon said it’s just more of the same irresponsible behavior,
with the state now being forced to pay the price for all the
economic turmoil.
“Year after year, taxpayers are leaving the state and taking
large amounts of income with them to other states that have a
better status fiscally,” he said. “There's no attention being
paid to the underlying problems. The taxpayers know this.
Illinois has lost its competitiveness. It's now a drag on the
national economy in terms of contribution to GDP and
employment.”
Lawmakers have no one to blame but themselves for all the
dysfunction, including the state’s suddenly shrinking
population, Glennon said.
“That's the ultimate result of more government spending and more
government growth,” he said. “That’s really at the heart of our
problem, employers and population leaving or at least not coming
here. There's no attention being paid to the underlying
problems.”
A recent Pew Charitable Trusts report highlights the last time
public-sector hiring outpaced private employers was in 2007, or
at the start of the Great Recession. Since 2023 and for the
first time in more than three decades, data shows public-sector
wages have also been growing faster than those in the private
sector.
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