Kane County Reporter

State Rep. Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills) said that Illinois' unemployment rate ranked second to last in the country for the month of December, with only the state of Nevada faring worse.

With an overall unemployment rate of 4.7% for the month of December, Illinois' rate stands significantly higher than that of all its neighboring states as well as the national average of 3.5%; a WGN report said this week.

McLaughlin envisions a brighter future for the state's economy.

"We should be a leader in growing job opportunities for our residents," he said in a Facebook post this week. "We have the resources, but our state's high taxes and bad public policies drive employers away. We have to be more competitive to get innovators and job creators to invest in Illinois."

Illinois now also ranks as the second-highest state from which residents are fleeing, according to a survey by moving company United Van Lines; a recent Illinois Policy report said. The survey found that people moving out of Illinois made up 63.8% of total migration, meaning that only 36.2% of those moving were headed into the state.