Illinois dropped eleven spots in a national survey of the best places to do business. Business leaders say they're not surprised. IPR’S Amanda Vinicky reports.
The CNBC survey ranks Illinois 37th overall. But the state gets especially poor marks when it comes to the cost of doing business. Illinois comes in at 44th out of 50 states.
Mark Denzler, with the Illinois Manufacturer's Association, says it's an accurate description. There's no doubt, he says, that Illinois faces challenges.
"We have the second highest unemployment rate in the country, we have a high cost system of taxes in the state of Illinois, our workers compensation costs continue to be very high despite some good reforms that happened in 2011."
But then again, Denzler says ...
"We also have a lot of things that are working in Illinois. We have a great workforce, we're centrally located, we have an outstanding transportation system that's recognized in this survey."
Illinois' ranked 5th for both infrastructure and technological innovation.