A new initiative could help create thousands of new Joliet jobs.

State Gov. Pat Quinn recently signed the Intermodal Facilities Promotion Act, which is meant to encourage business development along the freight rail systems in Illinois. CenterPoint Properties, which already operates a facility in Elwood, plans to build, own and operate a new rail transportation hub in Joliet, and projects that facility would create 7,000 new jobs throughout the state.

“Now more than ever it is important that we do everything in our power to bring new jobs to Illinois,” Quinn said. “I am pleased to sign this law which provides a major incentive for growth in the Joliet area.”

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Part of the goal of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was to create work for many of the country’s unemployed citizens. The idea worked better in one state, creating several construction jobs in Illinois and helping the state’s economy as a whole.

The Federal Highway Administration recently announced that Illinois ranked first among all 50 states as far as total expenditure of ARRA funds. So far, the federal economic stimulus has provided Illinois with $170,605,614, which is almost three times the expenditures in the next highest ranked state.

As a result of the stimulus bill, 239 highway projects have been started and 45 have been completed. On top of that, $180 million has been paid to contractors and consultants. Another 268 highway contracts have been awarded, totaling about $552 million.

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As of late, many states are focusing on improving their energy plans. Illinois is no exception, as the state is planning on using a new round of funding to improve its own energy plan, in turn creating new jobs in Illinois (Click here).

Gov. Pat Quinn recently announced that Illinois received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy for its proposed State Energy Plan. The approval gives the state the authority to being implementing the program, which makes more than $100 million available through grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

“The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is providing a tremendous economic boost to Illinois,” Quinn said. “The funding approved today will help us provide low cost, reliable energy; reduce our long-term energy consumption; improve our production of clean, home grown fuels; and reduce our impact on the environment.”

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Hundreds of Illinois insurance jobs will soon be lost as one company begins making cuts.

Health Care Service Corporation, the Chicago-based company that runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, recently announced its plan to eliminate 650 jobs throughout the state. The cuts are being made because of the economic recession, which has caused the company’s employer customers to reduce workers, and a demand from Congress and President Barack Obama to reduce administrative costs.

Health Care Service Corporation, which operates Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in Illinois, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas, is planning to reduce its total workforce by about 4 percent. According to an article by the Chicago Tribune, jobs will be eliminated by Q1 of next year.

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One company is planning to cut more than 100 Illinois manufacturing jobs.

Clarcor, based in Franklin, recently announced its plan to cut more than 150 positions at its Rockford, Ill., plant during the next several months. The company said it does not plan to change anything at its Tennessee plant, but there will be a few layoffs at its Campbellsvile, Ky., location.

The company, which works in air filtration, said it needs to layoff some workers because it lost one customer who decided to do its own manufacturing. According to an article by the Nashville Business Journal, the company began a restructuring initiative in 2006, which led to the closing of two plants in North Carolina and Iowa, and the shifting of two plants, a warehouse and an office in Kentucky and southern Indiana.

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One large energy company is planning to cut more than 40 jobs in Illinois. Visit http://www.illinoiscareers.com to learn more about employment in Illinois.

AmerenEnergy Resources, a holding company for Ameren Corp, has announced its plan to cut 42 jobs in Illinois. The company has been experiencing rising environmental compliance costs and difficult economic and power market conditions, making a reduction in jobs necessary.

According to an article by Reuters, most of the employees being laid off are in the company’s generation technical services group.The majority of the affected employees will be laid of in September, with a small group to be laid off in March 2010. The company also is planning to reduce its capital-intensive projects because of the high cost of financing such projects in the current market.

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As the state continues to lose jobs, Illinois unemployment continues to increase as well.

During June, the State of Illinois saw its unemployment rate increase from 10.1 percent to 10.3 percent, which is higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.5 percent. The state hasn’t seen its unemployment rate decrease since March 2007, when it went from 4.9 percent to 4.7 percent.

Illinois had a total non-farm employment of 5,686,100 workers during June, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 5,700,000 workers during May and a 4.6 percent decrease from last year.

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A new plan will help create hundreds of thousands of Illinois construction jobs during the more future.

Gov. Pat Quinn recently announced the creation of Illinois Jobs Now!, a $31 billion plan meant to aid the state’s lagging economy by creating 439,000 jobs during the next six years. This is the first statewide capital construction effort to become law during in more than a decade.

“This is a crucial economic recovery initiative that will generate what’s needed most in Illinois: jobs, jobs, jobs,” Quinn said. “Illinois Jobs Now! provides many long-awaited improvements to our bridges and roads, transportation networks, schools and communities.”

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One company is cutting more than 100 jobs in Illinois. Click here to see more Illinois jobs.

Tellabs, Inc. announced this week that it plans to cut about 150 jobs as part of a company restructuring plan. The company, which supplies telecommunications networking products, hopes the restructuring will help align its costs with customer spending and current market conditions.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Tellabs noted that it expects to record pretax charges of $5 million to $6 million from Q2 2009 through Q1 2010. Cash payments in the same area are expected from Q3 of this year through Q4 2010.

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More than 200 jobs in Illinois could soon be created, according to Coles Together.

Leaders of that group recently announced that a new manufacturing firm and warehouse and transport company in Coles County could result in the creation of 280 jobs and $40 million worth of investments. Names of the companies have not yet been revealed so as to not jeopardize ongoing negotiations.

According to an article by the Journal Gazette-Times Courier Online, Coles Together also has been working on the FutureGen Alliance, a group of energy companies that have ties to coal use or production. That project recently received a federal commitment of $1.073 billion.

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