CHRONIC HIGH UNEMPLOYMENT & POVERTY

In January 2009 seven of the 21 counties of deep Southern Illinois had unemployment rates of more than 10%.

COUNTIES % UNEMPLOYMENT

Franklin 12.2%

Hamilton 10.0%

Hardin 10.6%

Perry 12.4%

Pope 10.2%

Pulaski 10.7%

Union 11.9%

Overall there were 17,623 people unemployed in January in a labor force of 189,697. The twenty-one counties have an overall unemployment rate of 9.3% while the State as a whole has a rate of 8.5% and the national rate of 7.6%.

This is not at all unusual for the economy of the southernmost counties of Illinois. And as long as Illinois State government is dominated by Chicago our southern economy will continue to be neglected.

In the 2000 census the State median household income was $46,500.

At that time the median household income for the southernmost counties of Illinois was $29,200. That is 63% of the state median household income—Southern Illinoisans earned 63 cents on the dollar compared to the State average. For those over 65 years of age living in Southern Illinois it is even worse. Their median household income was only $24,300. That is only 52% of the state median household income!

To put these figures in perspective; an income of $23,650 puts a family of three below the poverty level.

More resent surveys indicate that 24% of the people, and 57% of the children, of Cairo live in poverty while 42% of the children of Pulaski county live in poverty. Over 70,000 Southern Illinoisans live in poverty!

It is time to take our economic development in our own hands, and the surest way to do that is to control our own affairs as a sovereign State! Southern Illinois will never prosper as long as we are dominated by Chicago politics. We cannot do worse on our own and I am convinced we can do a lot better! One hundred and ninety years of being second class citizens in our own State is long enough. It’s time to separate and go our own way.

IT’S TIME FOR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS STATEHOOD!

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