With a declining population, Illinoisans can expect to see declining investment and job creation. And without jobs they can expect to see economic output stall as well.
Why do people move?
Dr. Orphe Divounguy is the chief economist at the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he produces original quantitative research analyzing the impact of various policies on the lives of the people of Illinois. Divounguy earned a Ph.D. from England’s University of Southampton.
Illinois Policy Institute - The push-pull theory of migration predicts that outmigrating individuals will be relatively advantaged compared to their nonmigrating peers at their origin location, which serves to push them toward migration. Conversely, migrants are relatively disadvantaged when compared with individuals at their destination location, and the advantages of the destination pull them to migrate. Thus, individuals migrate to achieve improved conditions.
Unfortunately, except for Chicago, all of Illinois’ metro areas have seen slower income growth than the average U.S. metro area from 2012 to 2016 (the most recently available data).
Read more: https://www.illinoispolicy.org/shrinking-communities-bode-ill-for-illinois-economy/