A stagnant economy has pushed nearly one in ten Illinoisans to remain on the unemployment rolls, including 11 percent of unemployed workers in Cook County. The numbers do not take into account the people working part-time or the so-called 99’ers. National figures put real unemployment north of 16 percent. Slow private sector job growth combined with public sector job losses have left many workers competing against hundreds of other applicants for a small pool of jobs.

President Barack Obama is currently on a tour encouraging Americans to press their Congressmen to support and pass his new jobs bill, aimed at boosting job growth and alleviating some of the financial pressure people are experiencing. The bill calls for a $175 billion one-year extension of the employee payroll tax holiday, which would save the average working family $1,500 in taxes.

The President's plan also calls for $85 billion in aid for state and local governments. Reuters provides this breakdown of the funds:

• $35 billion to keep teachers, firefighters and police officers in their jobs, of which $30 billion would go to schools and $5 billion to police and firefighters.
• $30 billion to modernize schools and community colleges.
• $15 billion to rehabilitate and refurbish vacant and foreclosed homes.
• $5 billion to help low-income youths and adult workers, supporting summer and year-round jobs for young people and support subsidized work for unemployed low-income workers.

Some of the money would find its way to Illinois to help bring down an unemployment rate that is higher than the national average. In fact, a top economist at Moody’s told Politico the jobs bills could potentially cut the national unemployment rate a full percentage point and add nearly 2 million jobs. Further relief for the unemployed could be found in the proposed $57 billion in unemployment benefit extensions. Much of the unemployed population has been without a job for more than six months, making it more difficult to find their way back into the workforce.

Congressman Joe Walsh (R-8) skipped the speech and held a small-business forum in his district instead. Despite the no-show by his colleague, Congressman Daniel Lipinski (D-3) is optimistic:

"I saw a change last week in Washington," said Lipinski. "A great change from July to September. There seems to be a real thaw in the gridlock. The Republicans in the House seem to want to work together with the president, with Democrats, to get some things done. I'm very happy to see that."

Obama’s job proposal also includes a $60 billion investment in infrastructure, when including the money directed at modernizing schools around the country, the total reaches $90 billion. This figure is still well short of the $2 trillion infrastructure gap the Urban Land Institute found earlier in the year.

Nonetheless, U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-7) believes it is a start and there should not be room for partisan debate: "When you consider that it focuses around rebuilding our infrastructure - roads and bridges and highways, things you can't really do without - it's pretty often difficult to argue about that."

Last month, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-9) proposed The Emergency Jobs to Restore the American Dream bill, which calls for:

• School Improvement: 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs to repair and improve existing schools.
• Park Improvement: 100,000 jobs for young people, aged 16-25 to restore and rehabilitate our natural, recreational and cultural resources.
• Student Jobs: 250,000 new work study jobs through new funding to the Federal Work Study Program, giving more students the opportunity to help put themselves through college.
• Neighborhood Heroes: Funding to hire or re-hire over 350,000 Teachers, Police Officers, and Firefighters.
• Health: Grants to hire 40,000 doctors, nurses, and other health care workers to expand access to health care in underserved rural and urban areas.
• Community Corp: 750,000 news jobs for green initiatives in sectors like weatherization, recycling, and brown field redevelopment, and a new housing construction program modeled after Habitat for Humanity.

Earlier today, she joined other Congressional progressives lamenting Obama’s plan for not going far enough. Her bill focuses squarely on job creation and does not provide a single dime towards tax cuts or incentives.

"Businesses don't need more confidence. They need more customers,” said Schakowsky.

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