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“Only growing our state with new jobs, new opportunity and more
people is going to help,
Ugaste told The Center Square. “Those who are in dire economic
straits, giving them a handout, more SNAP benefits or putting
them on Medicaid isn't a help. That's a safety net to help them
get over a hump. We have to have good paying jobs with good
benefits.”
With Archbridge Institute researchers defining social mobility
as “the ability to better oneself and those around them,” based
on such factors as institutions and rule of law,
entrepreneurship and growth, education and skills development
and social capital, Illinois now ranks 38th across the country,
including behind at least five other midwestern states that were
all ranked in the top quarter.
Data also points to the state’s ongoing struggles with economic
growth, high regulations and persistent corruption by elected
officials as some of the biggest drivers for its poor overall
standing.
Illinois’ lowest rankings came on institutions and predatory
state action at 49th, followed by entrepreneurship at 45th and
judicial system quality at 40th.
“The true harm is caused by the fact that we have a problem with
people who think that solving a problem comes from creating a
new program for it instead of creating opportunity for jobs and
upward mobility,” Ugaste said. “We should be a leader, at the
top of any list that people want to be on top of, not at the top
of the list that you don't want to lead on. We should be leading
in social mobility; we should be leading in economic racial
equality.”
Ugaste adds all the state’s issues strike him as being
intertwined and playing a role in its ongoing struggles with
outmigration and difficulty in attracting more taxpayers and new
businesses to the area.
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