The Index that measures the Illinois economy fell to 104.7 in July, down 0.3 from June.
The reading indicates that that state economy continues to grow, but more slowly than before.
University of Illinois economist Fred Giertz compiles the Flash Index. Giertz says the economic slowdown in
Illinois follows a national trend over the past two quarters, and he says that could be evidence that the economic recovery is slowing down.
“We’ve been in a recovery now for almost seven years. And recoveries don’t last forever. So it may be slowing down, it’s kind of a natural maturation of the growth cycle," Giertz said. "So a lot of things are happening and again, there’s no easy fix on these. We’d all like to have strong growth, but obviously, if that could be done easily, we would have done it already.”
Giertz says state income and corporate tax receipts were down for July, while sales tax revenue was up from a year ago. The Flash Index is based on Illinois tax receipts.