There are currently no officially sanctioned within-state regional cost-of-living indices for Illinois. This gap replicates a similar statistical gap at the federal level. Though the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) produces individual metropolitan area and national regional indices, these measure changes in inflation over time for each metropolitan area and region and are not comparable across cities or regions at any given point in time. Since the BLS discontinued its inter-area cost-of-living index in 1981, no government agency has taken on this task.
Policy Brief
Persistent Unemployment in Illinois: The Case For Reauthorizing Federal Temporary Extended Unemploment Compensation Benefits
November 2003 marked two years of recovery for the U.S. economy. Government reports have trumpeted the good news: growth in the gross domestic product reached its highest level in nearly two decades, businesses are investing again, and exports edged up slightly.