thinkin of moving from Michigan to Illinois

[linicx]

I would disagree just a tad. The last month reported unemployment rate indicated that statewide iL at 9.6% - the national average. Peoria unemployment dropped 4 straight months, and the last time I talked to a realtor they said the housing market was statble for what it was. .B-N probably is too,

Peoria does have 4 hospitals. OSF in Peoria has the only children's tertiary unit outside of Chicago and it is the only hospital in Illinois that is affilaited with Easter Seals, Shriner Hospitals and St. Judes Research Hospital. Additionally there is the University of Illinois College of Medicine - Peoria, plus the Dept of Agriculture research facility, a new VA Clinic, a farily large community of non-traditional holistic practioners, and a top rated cancer clinic. According to Sperling Peoria has three times more physicians than the national average. OSF is the largest Catholic hospital in the nation. .

I think we can agree that Peoria and Springfield are both very unique cities that offer a different experience to visitors and shoppers alike. For Instance Springfield has First Night and the wonderful Lincoln relics wheras Peoria allegedly has the oldest Santa Claus Parade in the nation. plus large towns nearby that hold enormous events like FOLEPI and the Marigold Festival that draw thousands of visitors to the area every year.

They are both old, well established towns of comparable size. It might be fun to compare the goodies some time so everyone can learn. .
.

Originally Posted by Maintainschaos

That's exaggerated. IL unemployment is currently slightly under the national average whereas Michigan is close to 3% unemployment *over* the national average. Areas such as Bloomington, Springfield, and Champaign are all hovering around ~ 7% unemployment, much, much lower than most Michigan cities.

For the poster, if she's really interested in places that offer low cost of living, relatively low unemployment and work in the nursing field, I'd suggest she look at either Springfield or Peoria. Springfield has the mid-IL medical district composed of St. John's hospital, St. John's Children's hospital, Memorial Medical center, and the SIU school of Medicine. The city also has a mental and psychiatric hospital for youth (used to be called Doctors hospital, but not sure of its name now). Peoria also has a large children's hospital as well as the massive OSF campus, offers a few more amenities than Springfield, but has a higher unemployment than Springfield.

[Queen416]

Originally Posted by tonythetuna

The woman ain't thinking about moving to those places. At least she did not mention she is. She is asking about Rockford and in some ways the Chicago area. Pull up the unemployment numbers for Rockford.

The latest numbers as of November are 13.7 for Rockford.

Rockford, IL Economy at a Glance

Also, look at this map of unemployment by county nationwide:

http://www.bls.gov/lau/maps/twmcort.pdf

No I don't know about those areas at all.. I checked the unemployment rates in Rockford vs Michigan it isn't much better but what can u expect these days.. I dunno. I read some good and bad thing about Rockford.. I have to keep my kids in mind too so I dunno.. :-/ ugggghhh this economy sucks!

[Queen416]

I appreciate all of the comments, ideas, suggestions etc.. I would thank u all individually but I'm on my cell at the time, so don't feel no one was heard because I've read everyones input. =) thanks!

[Mr.Nick]

thinkin of moving from Michigan to Illinois

pretty redundant no?

[chet everett]

Lord knows I am not a big booster of our corrupt and mindless state of chaos, but I do travel the state occasionally both for business and recreation and I complete agree with the fact that some of the industries that are doing well in places like Peoria and the quad cities and even near St Louis are much healthier than the devastated industries of Michigan. I happen to be old enough to remember the pain and literal violence that organized labor inflicted on some of these towns in their futile efforts to hang on to contracts that would have bankrupted Deere, Cat, Emerson and other firms the same way that the UAW drove GM into bankruptcy.

The hangover that Michigan will feel from the horrors unleashed by that bankruptcy will not grab headlines like Illinois' idiotic business taxes, but that hangover will continue to mean that firms with a need for labor will likely prefer rural Illinois to almost anyplace in Michigan for quite some time, especially as the Boehner headed House is unlikely to allow the Unions to shove their "back from the dead" privacy violating card check forced Union membership nightmare job killer see the light of day...

Originally Posted by linicx

I would disagree just a tad. The last month reported unemployment rate indicated that statewide iL at 9.6% - the national average. Peoria unemployment dropped 4 straight months, and the last time I talked to a realtor they said the housing market was statble for what it was. .B-N probably is too,

Peoria does have 4 hospitals. OSF in Peoria has the only children's tertiary unit outside of Chicago and it is the only hospital in Illinois that is affilaited with Easter Seals, Shriner Hospitals and St. Judes Research Hospital. Additionally there is the University of Illinois College of Medicine - Peoria, plus the Dept of Agriculture research facility, a new VA Clinic, a farily large community of non-traditional holistic practioners, and a top rated cancer clinic. According to Sperling Peoria has three times more physicians than the national average. OSF is the largest Catholic hospital in the nation. .

I think we can agree that Peoria and Springfield are both very unique cities that offer a different experience to visitors and shoppers alike. For Instance Springfield has First Night and the wonderful Lincoln relics wheras Peoria allegedly has the oldest Santa Claus Parade in the nation. plus large towns nearby that hold enormous events like FOLEPI and the Marigold Festival that draw thousands of visitors to the area every year.

They are both old, well established towns of comparable size. It might be fun to compare the goodies some time so everyone can learn. .
.

[linicx]

Again I disagree just a bit. Peoria began to move away from large industry before CAT bought the first Mainframe. Today CAT is a shadow of its former self. The only thing remaining of Caterpillar in the Peoria area is their world headquarters and perhaps one or two scattered buildings in the Mossville and kingston Mines areas.

Today Peoria is a regional medical, business, financial and technological hub in Central Illinois that is continuing to hire talented professionals.

Illinois is primarily farming as it is the #1 and #2 bean and corn producer in the nation. It is in the heart of the Grain and Livestock Belt. Central Illinois produces sunglasses, maple syrup, flowers, furnitire and host of other productss that equal $20M in exports that ship through the Port of Peoria. This figure of course does not necessarily include Illinois products that ship through ports at St.Louis or Chicago, by rail, air or truck.

I cannot understand why Michigan would search for labor in rural Illinois when they have unemployed labor in rural Michigan? .

Originally Posted by chet everett

Lord knows I am not a big booster of our corrupt and mindless state of chaos, but I do travel the state occasionally both for business and recreation and I complete agree with the fact that some of the industries that are doing well in places like Peoria and the quad cities and even near St Louis are much healthier than the devastated industries of Michigan. I happen to be old enough to remember the pain and literal violence that organized labor inflicted on some of these towns in their futile efforts to hang on to contracts that would have bankrupted Deere, Cat, Emerson and other firms the same way that the UAW drove GM into bankruptcy.

The hangover that Michigan will feel from the horrors unleashed by that bankruptcy will not grab headlines like Illinois' idiotic business taxes, but that hangover will continue to mean that firms with a need for labor will likely prefer rural Illinois to almost anyplace in Michigan for quite some time, especially as the Boehner headed House is unlikely to allow the Unions to shove their "back from the dead" privacy violating card check forced Union membership nightmare job killer see the light of day...