Metro East Sun

Illinois state Sen. Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) believes a new scathing report showing the state's poor unemployment ranking should be a driving factor for decision-making at the polls this November. 

Plummer shared information from Wirepoints analysis of the state's unemployment figures which showed the most recent data ranked Illinois' unemployment rate as the worst in the nation in an October 24 Facebook post. 

"I literally don't know what could be more compelling to the average Illinoisan, Wirepoints," Plummer wrote in the post. "Yes for jobs and lower taxes, no for corruption and higher taxes. Vote Republican."

In Wirepoints' analysis of the data, authors said "Illinoisans have been suffering in one of the worst of five states for unemployment for several months, but now the state has jumped to the number one position." The article also noted that it's the result of policies that pushed big companies to seek locations elsewhere. 

Wirepoints linked a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics release that noted Illinois had the second-highest unemployment rate in September at 4.5%. At the time, only the District of Columbia had a slightly worse unemployment rate at 4.7%.

Back in August, Illinois was ranked third for the highest unemployment rate in the country, according to Wirepoints. The higher rate came after a slight improvement in the June jobless rate which dropped 0.1% from June.