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| Lawmakers Hear Presentation to Get Economy Back on Track |
(IRN)-A joint hearing of the Illinois House and Senate Revenue Committees heard a presentation Tuesday on what state government needs to be doing to get the economy back on track.
Dr. Geoffrey J.D. Hewings is the head of the Department of Economics at U of I. He says Illinois never recovered from the 2000-2001 recession, and with the most optimistic forecasts for an out-date being another five to eight years, Illinois could see an 18 year employment recession.
"In any other part of the world, a country that had been in a recession that long, people would be energized to want to do something about it," said Hewings. "And I think until very, very recently, we've had a habit of just sort of hoping that something will happen and we’ll get through it. And it hasn't happened and it’s not going to happen. Other states are being far more proactive and we are not."
Hewings says job creation is the most important thing the state can be doing. "I think the most damaging action is to basically not do anything and not embrace the notion that job creation is probably the most important thing that you can do," he said.
He told members that research into how to get Illinois out of the recession is a worthwhile investment, and that they should work towards, at the very least, a list of five things to work for in terms of job creation, and five things to stay away from. Hewings also says the outmigration of workers, old and new, is costing the state billions.
"The evidence is suggesting that over the last decade, we've done a very poor job of keeping those people here," he said. "We're losing well over a billion dollars a year as a result of outmigration. Putting it all together, our fiscal problems have really come home to roost."
The Illinois Association of Realtors set up the presentation for the joint committee. Another point Hewings made was that job creation is inherently linked to confidence in the housing market.
"The housing market is not going to recover until the economy is going to recover, because consumers have become very risk averse," he said. "They don’t want to launch into the purchase of a new house at this time because it's a huge risk, particularly if your job is not secure. And again, with prices continuing to trend down, there’s every incentive to wait one more month, six more months, because they might go even lower."
(Source: Illinois Radio Network)
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| 02 09 11 by Newsroom |
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