DISPLEASURE WITH the state's business climate is hampering economic expansion in Illinois, an Illinois State Chamber of Commerce executive told the legislative Commission for Economic Development at a hearing in Homewood on October 12.
Lester W. Brann, Jr., president of the chamber, asserted a survey of Illinois businesses showed that "Business people blamed exorbitant workmen's compensation and unemployment compensation costs, anti-business attitudes of political leaders, lack of incentives for business development, taxes affecting business, labor-management relations, stringent environmental regulations, and the power of organized labor in the state legislature for the declining appeal of Illinois as a business location."
State Government News(Sept. 1976) in an article, "Sunbelt Gets The Business," listed as factors involved in the shift of business from the North to the South, Southwest and West the following:
— A recession. Jobs disappeared more slowly in the South and came back sooner.
— An oil embargo. Industry is looking for an ample domestic energy supply (found in Texas, Louisiana, etc.).
— Federal spending. In 1974, the "sunbelt" states netted $ 13 billion more in federal income tax spending than they paid in;
Northern states experienced a loss of more than 20 billion.
— Union climate. All the "sunbelt" states except California and New Mexico have right-to-work law's.
December 1976/ Illinois Issues/15