Contact: Joseph King , NIU Office of Public Affairs
(815) 753-4299

February 9, 2005

Illinois residents fear losing jobs to overseas competition

DeKalb — Across the state, workers are worried that Illinois jobs are becoming a major export, say researchers at Northern Illinois University.

According to the recently released 2005 Illinois Policy Survey, 58 percent of Illinois residents consider the loss of jobs overseas to be a major problem, with an additional 24 percent saying that it was at least somewhat of a problem. That perception may have some merit as more than one in 10 respondents reported that they, or a member of their family, had lost a job to overseas competition in the last few years.

“I was shocked to see that number was so high. If 11 percent of people were unemployed at a given time, regardless of the reason, that would be high. Losing 10 percent of your jobs to foreign competition is a big hit to your economy,” said NIU Professor of Public Administration Mike Peddle, who oversaw the survey along with Barbara Burrell, associate director of the NIU Public Opinion Laboratory.

Many across the state also fear that the loss of jobs overseas is only going to get worse. Nearly one-third of all respondents said that it was either very likely or somewhat likely that they, or a member of their household, would lose a job to foreign outsourcing in the next five years.

“The fact that so many are worried about it, or even just aware of it, is no small point,” said Peddle. “Even if the perception of the problem is greater than the reality, it still impacts the economy, because perceptions drive things like consumer spending, savings and investment decisions.”

Such concerns contributed to general anxiety about jobs and unemployment in Illinois. Statewide, it was the second most commonly cited concern (17 percent) when the survey asked respondents an open-ended question about what they considered the most important problem facing Illinois.

The worry over unemployment was much greater in downstate areas. In northern Illinois (exclusive of Chicago and the suburbs), nearly one third of respondents said unemployment was their top concern, as did 29 percent of those in central Illinois and 22 percent of those in the far southern reaches of the state.

“Those regions all include areas that have been particularly hard hit by the decline of manufacturing, relocation of jobs to other states and other countries, and foreign competition in the markets for the products they produce. Their economies also tend to be less diverse and robust than the economies of Chicago and its suburbs,” explained Peddle.

In Chicago, its suburbs and the surrounding collar counties, the top concern was education, with unemployment second. Downstate, education was the second most pressing issue.

Now in its 21st year, the Illinois Policy Survey is conducted by the NIU Center for Governmental Studies and the NIU Public Opinion Laboratory. The survey is designed to provide information on public attitudes, values and expectations with respect to the performance of elected officials and policy issues facing Illinois.

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A complete copy of the 2005 Report on the Illinois Policy Survey can be found online at http://www.niu.edu/PubAffairs/presskits/ips2005/index.html . That site also includes an explanation of the survey methodology and sampling error, as well as news releases related to other topics in the report.