Dupage Policy Journal

As disappointed as she may be, Republican Congressional candidate Jeanne Ives insists she isn’t surprised by Illinois’ sagging unemployment rate.

“It’s no surprise that Illinois’ unemployment rate ranks among the highest at over 15%,” said Ives, who is now running against U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-Downers Grove) in the 6th Congressional District. “Decades of mismanagement left us unprepared for crisis.”

After a more than two decades high unemployment rate of 17.2% in April, the rate fell to 15.2% in May, or still almost 2 full points above the national average, according to the state’s Department of Employment Security.

“Extreme lockdown measures compound the pain,” Ives added. “The tone-deaf leadership from the governor and Sean Casten cannot continue.”

Ives has long blasted Gov. J.B. Pritzker over his handling of state economy, particularly in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home shutdown he enacted as a way of dealing with the crisis.

“Illinois needs to open up based on local recommendations, and following the guidelines set up by the president and his team of economic and health care advisors,” she said. “The economic shutdown will have a permanent negative consequence and many businesses will not survive, leaving thousands of Illinoisans out of work. We can do both – open up economic activity and protect those most at risk.”

Soon after the governor’s executive order took effect, a new Coronavirus Small Business Survey by WalletHub found that 87 percent of all small business owners across the country said they’ve been negatively impacted by the pandemic and more than one of every three added that they can only survive for a few weeks more under current conditions.