Looking milder??? How stupid can you be? Maybe you need to be speaking to the other business papers to find out what's happening. Manufacturing as far as I can see is almost at a stand still. Demand is down for product therefore there is NO need for workers. Illinois has one of the highest unemployment stats in the nation. Why don't you ask the questions ... Where are the Jobs, Why aren't the banks loaning money, Where is the BEEF? When MOMS don't shop for supplies stores don't move inventory .... I say sustainable recovery is not going to be here for a long time and that's if we learn real business from the likes of Warren B.
(Crain’s) — Illinois’ economic downturn is easing as home sales stabilize and factory orders start to recover, but lingering unemployment points to a weaker-than-expected recovery next year, according to a new forecast.
Moody’s Economy.com now foresees a 1.4% decline in gross state product for 2009, better than the 2.1% decline the Pennsylvania-based firm predicted earlier in the year. It’s also better than the 2.7% drop Economy.com forecasts for the national economy.
“Things are not going to be getting significantly better, but they are not going to be getting worse,” said Sophia Koropeckyj, an economist at Economy.com.
After coming to a standstill late last year, manufacturers are starting to see new orders trickle in; inventories, which have been drawn down to the bottom, likely will be rebuilt.
Orders at Chicago-based Janler Corp. have been creeping back slowly after disappearing last winter, said Carol Ebel, owner and president of the plastic injection molds and molding company. The loss in business forced Janler to cut pay for its 10 salaried workers by 10% and reduce work time for its 30 hourly employees to 40 hours per week from 50.
“We’re starting to see those orders come back,” said Ms. Ebel, who expects flat revenue this year after experiencing the same in 2008. “We’ve been playing it tight because we feel there’s still some uncertainty out there.”
Bruce Braker, president of the Park Ridge-based Tooling and Manufacturing Assn., said many of his 1,250 members are experiencing the same. “Most are saying that they have found a bottom and that they are seeing orders starting to head back up,” he said.
The state already has seen home sales begin to stabilize, Ms. Koropeckyj said. Statewide sales rose 20.8% in June, the fifth-straight monthly rise, according to the Illinois Assn. of Realtors. Compared with a year earlier, however, June sales were down 9.3%.
But the recovery in the state’s economy will be weaker than previously expected, Ms. Koropeckyj said. Next year, growth will expand about 0.9%—slower than the 1.5% Economy.com predicted in March.
The biggest factor undercutting the rebound is stubbornly high unemployment. In June, the total number of unemployed in Illinois was 683,300. That’s the most in any month since November 1983. The unemployment rate rose to 10.3%, also a 26-year high.
“The labor market will not bottom out for another four quarters,” Ms. Koropeckyj said.
What do you think?
Anthony K. wrote: