Illinois Chamber President pushing for business growth in Jacksonville

By Ryne Turke on October 2, 2015 at 5:46am

The President of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce says it is “now or never” for the state to make changes to the job market.

Todd Maisch came to Jacksonville on Thursday to extend that message to local businesses, students from MacMurray College and Representative C.D. Davismeyer.

Maisch says he spent a lot of time discussing the state budget impasse with members of the community.

Maisch says some businesses are doing better than others, but the best way to describe the economy of Jacksonville is “soft but hanging in there.”

According to Maisch, Illinois businesses would be doing better across the board if “government would get out of the way.” He added that the budget impasse could be impacting central Illinois more than the suburbs.

Maisch says businesses in the state that survived the last recession tightened their operations and have learned to “squeeze the most out of their business.” Maisch believes this process has hurt the job market in Illinois.

Maisch says the hardships over the past three months have been tough on Illinois employees and they could continue into the next year.