OpEd: Senator Patrick Joyce (October 2024) – October is when we celebrate key job creators and our ongoing partnership to keep Illinois On the Move with economic growth and development.
I was proud to join with the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association for its celebration of Manufacturing Month by honoring dozens of employers, their skilled employees and their significant contributions to our state’s economy with the Makers on the Move bus tour across the state.
Workforce development and job creation is one of my highest priorities as State Senator. When people have opportunities for the good-paying, stable careers like manufacturers provide, they plant deep roots in our region – leading to better schools and housing, and dollars that help our small businesses and communities thrive.
In this column in recent months, I have updated you on $410,000 for Kankakee County in state Job Training and Economic Development funds I helped secure. A law I helped create will bring a Clean Jobs Workforce Hub to the region. By training workers to take on new careers right here at home, we are investing in our future success.
The Makers on the Move tour features a charter bus making 40 stops around Illinois in October to celebrate the important contributions manufacturers make every day in our communities. Manufacturing contributes more to our state’s Gross Domestic Product – nearly $600 billion each year – than any other single industry. Products made right here in Illinois are in demand across the world, and nearly one-third of our jobs are tied to manufacturing.
I joined the Makers on the Move tour on Oct. 9 at CSL Behring in Bradley to help champion the innovative work being done here in the 40th Senate District. Not only is this company a global leader in developing life-saving medicines, it employs more than 1,500 people in our region.
At Holland in University Park, I joined the IMA to provide support for employee training programs as the company participates in the state’s Employer Training Improvement Program.
Looking ahead, our manufacturers will need a skilled workforce to ensure we can grow and thrive together. There are tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs open today across Illinois. We are working to provide support and training opportunities to help any Illinoisans interested in a career in manufacturing be best prepared to succeed because we know our companies need skilled, experienced pros to replace the generations ahead of them who are retiring.
I appreciate the dedication shown by the IMA and its members to touting the great story our manufacturers and employers have to tell today, and how we need to continue to innovate and recruit talented workers to add more chapters for tomorrow. Together, we will make more for our region and for all of Illinois.
I urge you to contact me anytime I can help: 708-756-0882, or at http://www.
Sen. Patrick Joyce
D-Essex, 40th State Senate District
OpEd: Senator Patrick Joyce (October2024)
