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The makers of Pringles and Pop-Tarts, a leading maker of electric vehicle batteries, the first cultivated meat company to receive federal approval, an all-electric truck manufacturer. What do these companies have in common? They all announced plans to set up shop or expand in Illinois in the past year.
And they’re not alone. They join hundreds of new companies making billions of dollars in investments and creating tens of thousands of jobs in the Land of Lincoln. In fact, 382 companies relocated or expanded in Illinois in fiscal year 2023; that’s an average of more than one company every single day.
The Illinois naysayers and doomsday predictors are increasingly out of step with the reality here on the ground: Illinois is back and open for business.
It’s not hard to figure out why. Illinois offers a unique combination of must-haves on the checklists of corporations looking for a new home: competitive incentives, leading infrastructure, unmatched transportation options to ship goods around the world, and most importantly, an abundance of highly skilled and educated workers.
Despite confirmed undercounts in the 2020 census and false narratives about our population, it’s clear that Illinois is a place full of people with the skills and drive to support its growth. In part, we have our top-tier education system to thank. Not only does Illinois rank fifth in the nation for pre-K through grade 12 education, but we also continue to beat national trends in higher education, with enrollment in our public universities increasing for the third consecutive year. Students from out of state want to be in Illinois too. With Chicago placing sixth in Axios’ list of most desirable metro areas for college graduates, our workforce of tomorrow will be further enhanced and strengthened by the large swaths of students who want to live here following their studies.
Now, the state can finally pair these strengths with fiscal stability. Over the last three budget cycles, Illinois leaders eliminated billions in bill backlogs, passed balanced budgets, made overpayments into pension funds above statutorily required amounts, created a historic $2 billion rainy day fund and earned nine consecutive credit rating upgrades. Gone are the days of facing budget impasses and lurching from crisis to crisis. This is now a state with a strong fiscal foundation that is investing in its future.
With these assets in tow, Illinois is jumping up the charts in an array of economic development rankings. In addition to placing second in the nation for corporate investment, according to Site Selection magazine, we also moved from No. 3 to No. 2 for infrastructure; from six to two for education; from eight to six in access to capital; and from 20 to nine in the nation for cost of living, according to CNBC rankings.
Over the past few years, we’ve also climbed from 30 to 17 in CNBC’s ranking of America’s Top States for Business in 2023. Momentum is on our side, which is reflected in the 61% of Illinois’ small and midsize business owners who reported feeling optimistic about business in the region, according to a JPMorgan Chase survey — a figure that is notably higher than the 46% nationwide average.
Here at Intersect Illinois, the state’s public-private business attraction organization, we collaborate closely with the governor, his administration and state agencies managing the day-to-day of Illinois’ economic development work. With laser focus on spreading economic development to every corner of this state and expanding opportunities in all communities, we’re seeing unprecedented results:
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• Gotion, a leading EV battery-maker, chose Illinois for its state-of-the-art $2 billion plant, creating 2,600 jobs.
• Lion Electric, an all-electric truck and bus manufacturer, opened its 900,000-square-foot manufacturing facility near Joliet. As the largest facility of its kind in the U.S., it will bring 1,400 jobs.
• Kellanova, maker of snacks such as Pringles, Pop-Tarts and Rice Krispies Treats, opened its new corporate headquarters in Chicago, further bolstering Illinois’ position as a food manufacturing and innovation leader.
These companies are not the exception. They are the rule. From LG Chem and Archer Daniels Midland’s joint venture to produce lactic acid and polylactic acid in Decatur, to Upside Foods’ $141 million commercial-scale meat facility investment in Glenview, to Manner Polymer’s new $54 million manufacturing facility in Mount Vernon, companies of all industries and sizes are choosing to call Illinois home.
Illinois is a state with a $1 trillion economy, a state with a gross domestic product large enough to be in the G20 and a state powered by the best workforce in the nation. Our future is bright, our potential is boundless, and as we head into 2024, we are just getting started.
John Atkinson is chairman and Dan Seals the CEO of Intersect Illinois, a statewide economic development organization.
Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@chicagotribune.com.
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