McHenry Times

Several companies announced they are leaving the state of Illinois over the course of the last year, with these departures coming more than 10 years after Caterpillar’s CEO Doug Oberhelman said that Illinois is not attracting businesses.

This past year Boeing, Tyson Foods and Caterpillar, among others, have decided to leave the state, according to a report by Advantage News. Oberhelman wrote in an op-ed that there have been dozens of new factories introduced in the past several years, and the workforce in the U.S. has increased by 14,500 over a decade, but Illinois has failed to open a new factory during that time.

“In short, when Caterpillar and most other companies look to locate a new factory in the U.S., Illinois is not in the running for such projects,” Oberhelman wrote in the op-ed.

State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) said his district saw the auto company Shellantis shut down their Belvidere plant and announce a $155 million investment in Indiana. This cost more than 1,300 jobs in Illinois.

“If we grew at the same rate as some of our neighboring states, we would have over a million more people living in Illinois over the last 10 years,” said Sosnowski in a recent press conference, according to Advantage News.

Sosnowski added that the policies under the Pritzker administration and the Democratic Party are hurting job creation and Illinois’ families.

Recent U.S. Census Bureau data has shown that the population of Illinois has decreased by 104,437 residents between July 2021 and July 2022, which was a record amount. Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently praised the economy, however, saying the state is taking in more revenue than previously expected. He said he has had conversations with both Democrats and Republicans about the budget, as well.

Rep. Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva) said there are issues in the General Assembly, noting it is lopsided after 600 bills advanced this session, according to the Advantage News report.

“Over 500 of those were Democrat bills, only about 70 were Republican bills,” Ugaste said in the Advantage News report. “We’re not being allowed to fix the problems that are addressing this state.”