State Stix

The comptroller's monthly report showed the general funds average daily available balance for January to be $466.5 million; the general funds end-of-month balance was $530 million; the combined funds end-of-month balance was $731 million. The general funds balance has again risen above the $500 million mark because no advance payments were made to local school districts. . . . The final adjusted statewide unemployment rates for November and December were 5.9 percent and 6.4 percent, respectively. The preliminary statewide unemployment rate for January was 7.1 percent. Final unemployment rates for November and preliminary rates for December in the state's major cities were: Bloomington-Normal, final November rate 3.4 percent, preliminary December rate 5.0percent; Champaign-Urbana, 3.7 percent, 4.4 percent; Chicago, 5.1 percent, 5.5 percent; Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (Illinois sector), 4.4 percent, 5.0 percent; Decatur, 10.9 percent, 12.3 percent; Kankakee, 7.9 percent, 9.0 percent; Peoria, 6.7 percent, 7.4 percent; Rockford, 5.3 percent, 6.2 percent; Springfield, 5.8 percent, 6.5 percent; St. Louis (Illinois sector), 6.5 percent, 7.0 percent. The increase in unemployment was caused in part by labor disputes in the state's major industries, including International Harvester, Caterpillar and others, and by a general decline in employment in manufacturing and construction trades. . . . Illinois personal income grew by 3.1 percent during the third quarter of 1979 (July through September). Adjusted for inflation, Illinois personal income grew 0.7 percent the third quarter compared to a 0.5 percent national average. Because Illinois is a "mature" industrial state and not subject to as much fluctuation as states with other types of personal income, the state's personal income growth has lagged behind the U.S. average during the last 10 years. That pattern was briefly reversed last year, partly because of an increase in summer employment. Illinois personal income is expected to grow more slowly in 1980. The Illinois Bureau of the Budget (BOB), which projects personal income to estimate future tax revenues, expected a 1.9 percent gross increase in Illinois personal income for the fourth quarter of 1979. That would give Illinois an annual growth rate of 11.6 percent. BOB predicted that Illinois personal income will only grow by about 10.6 percent during fiscal 1980, if there is a nationwide recession. Originally projected for late 1979, the recession may not hit until late 1980.

April 1980/Illinois Issues/29