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•£/" 3 ~ - 1 ILLINOIS GOVERNMENT RESEARCH UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FViGPA INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS MARCH 1976 42 The Library of the ILLINOIS AND THE UNITED STATES: SOME ECONOMIC PARALLELS Robert N. Schoeplein JUL l 3 1976 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois is situated both geographically and in production Population at the crosscurrents of the national economy. Virtually all Labor effort, capital, and natural resources are the three U.S. industries have one or more firms with productive general categories of inputs into the economic produc- facilities in Illinois, in a diverse state economy. resulting tion process. The population base of a state forms the To what extent, however, can Illinois be characterized as labor pool from which the civilian labor force emerges. a "microcosm" — a representation in miniature or on a Distribution by age, sex, education, and other charac- small scale — of the overall U.S. economy? teristics of the population shapes the mode that is a One must between the two of a distinguish concepts critical determinant of a state's economic structure. "microcosm" state and a "representative" state. Among In several important respects social characteristics the fifty states the of Illinois generates a dispro- economy of Illinois residents are similar to those of the aggregate portionately large percentage of the gross national U.S. One exception is the rate of immigration. Illinois product. Illinois ranks fifth the states in popula- among is somewhat below the national average in migration tion, fifth in income, fourth in manufacturing per capita — 71.6 percent of Illinois residents were born in the value-added, and fourth in value of state agricultural state, compared to 68 percent of the entire U.S. popula- product Certainly Illinois is not representative among tion residing in their states of birth. The range among the states, but is this state's economy representative of the fifty states is quite large: the "booming" states in the composite of the entire country? In this more global the southwest have only 25 percent natives in their sense, the relatively large size of the Illinois economy population, and most stable states count over 80 per- be to the diverse that may necessary generate output cent natives. might be representative of the U.S. as a whole. The Illinois population includes 52.6 percent of If several important facets of a state's economy do persons age twenty-five and over who have completed parallel those of the aggregate U.S., this recognition four years of high school or more; the national figure could produce several distinct benefits. The microcosm is 52.3 percent. The range among the fifty states is from state, or select elements of that state's economy, could a low of 37.8 percent to a high of 67.3 percent for this serve as either a bellwether or a control in observations segment of the population. The median number of years and social experiments leading to national policy. of schooling completed by white male and white female Comparisons can be made at each of several levels adults in Illinois is the same as for the aggregate United of generality, and one would anticipate that differences States. Black male and female adults have one more year of between the economic composition of any specific schooling in Illinois than the average among the fifty states. state and that of the entire U.S. would become more ap- Illinois has become an urban state as the United States as the more parent analysis grows specific. Many key has become an urban nation. Urban residents account overall parallels between the structure of 1 1 1 inois's for 83.0 percent of the Illinois population; the national economy and that of the U.S. continue to hold, however, distribution is 73.5 percent urban residents. Illinois has as the basic sectors are subdivided and the more 4.5 percent rural farm residents, comparable with 5.2 specific elements are compared. The Illinois and the percent for the U.S. The differences are accounted for U.S. economies are analyzed at a specific moment in by rural nonfarm residents: Illinois has 12.5 percent rural time; in essence we are studying the fine details of two nonfarm population, while the U.S. has 21.3 percent. photographs. In the future, economic dynamics may dis- The city of Chicago and the Chicago standard metro- tort or destroy the striking similarities between the Illinois politan statistical area (SMSA) dominate statistics on and the national economies, but for the moment re- the Illinois economy. For example, although III inois's searchers may look to their specific needs and black population of 12.8 percent is not significantly curiosities in evaluating whether at present this state's different from the U.S. average of 11.1 percent, 98.4 per- is a microcosm of the U.S. economy economy. cent of lllinois's blacks are urban residents — as opposed to the overall U.S. figure of 71.7 percent. Robert N Schoeplein is associate professor of economics, Institute of Although the Chicago SMSA tends to distort the nature Government and Public Affairs, and Department of Economics. University and distribution of the state's population, the area's of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. A more detailed version of, this report 9 economic base is one of the major factors contributing is contained in "The Illinois Economy: A Microcosm of the United States ", to the diversification for Illinois to be by Professor Schoeplein with Hugh T. Connelly, also published by the necessary repre- institute, and available without charge upon request sentative of the national economy. The Labor Force ployment opportunities work together to maintain relatively larger numbers of servants and other house- Illinois is close to the overall U.S. in labor force participa- hold workers. On the whole, the distribution of the tion, for both sexes and in both urban and rural settings. Illinois labor force In Illinois 79.5 percent of urban males over age sixteen among major occupations parallels that of the U.S. are active in the civilian labor force; nationwide the figure is 77.6 percent. Rural male labor force participa- Gross Product Accounts tion is also comparable — 74.7 percent for Illinois and 73.2 percent for the U.S. Similar parallels hold between Businesses in the private sector utilize inputs to generate this state and the nation for females, although the varia- the economic goods and services that are their produc- tive tions among the other forty-nine states are significant. outputs. Although by specification the dollar value Illinois tends to have statewide employment rates lower of outputs in any year is equal to the dollar value of the units than comparable rates for the entire U.S., with the ex- inputs, of physical measurement are signifi- ception of the latter part of 1975 and during January cantly different. The skills and effort of labor plus capital 1976, when the Illinois unemployment rate did exceed investment are inputs; output is the total of myriad, that of the U.S. The diverse nature of the Chicago SMSA diverse products and services. A skilled welder can industrial complex explains in some measure why the work on ships' plates, grain elevators, or tractor frames. state labor force is less susceptible to the shocks and Although essential cross sections of the Illinois labor of force whims select industrial goods markets than are the may approximate those of the aggregate U.S., it labor forces in states with production concentrated in does not necessarily follow that the general character- a few industries. istics of output should also be parallel. The mix of final The distribution of the labor force by major occupation products could be significantly different. The basic in Table 1 illustrates that the relative weights of workers measure of output at the national level is national in most occupations approximate those of the aggregate gross product (GNP). The analogous measure for a U.S. This is reinforced by the range in values among the state's economy is gross state product (GSP). Re- cent estimates other states, reflecting economic specialization else- of lllinois's GSP facilitate comparisons with the overall where. The percentage of clerical workers is higher for national economy, although comparable Illinois than for the nation as a whole. This can be traced information is not available for many other states. The mix to the presence in the state of many national corporate of goods and services produced in an headquarters, insurance and financial centers, and economy can be classified in a variety of ways. One familiar regional trade centers. The relatively fewer proportions method is to group output according to (1) goods and of both farm laborers and farm foremen are indicative of services produced for domestic consumption, (2) investment and the mode of farm organization in Illinois, where farming goods services produced by the private is dominated by highly efficient family units coupled sector, (3) government purchases of goods and services, with sharecropping. and (4) the impact of the foreign trade sector on the Since in The labor force can be identified more specifically by economy. goods flow two directions between industry employment. In Table 2 we have consolidated economies, the term "net exports" frequently is used to mean the the U.S. Department of Commerce's distribution of em- value of exports minus the value of imports. The ployed persons by twenty-nine industries to seventeen exports of any state are relatively more important to that such industries. Manufacturing is decidedly important state's economy than is the export sector of the U.S.

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