Illinois gained over 32,000 nonfarm jobs on net since before the pandemic.
But 73% of them were government jobs.
Where the state could use some work is private-sector growth. Some of Illinois’ most important industries still haven’t recovered from the pandemic. For example, the state is down more than 20,000 jobs in the leisure and hospitality industry since that industry’s pre-COVID-19 peak. Illinois still has among the highest unemployment rates in the country…