In my integrated History and English class I created a local profile on employment in Illinois. The purpose of this piece is to show my classmates and the world on the economy and how it  has changed and works today in Illinois and Cook County. I feel like I am very proud of the interview that I did with Stacey Tsibulsky from Refugee One, who works in the employment department. She gave me a lot of information about her job which is to help refugees settle and get a job. In the process of writing this portfolio, I learned about how the economy in Cook County changes a lot compared to Illinois. For example, Chicago is only a city in Illinois and the economy in Chicago has changed more than the whole state of Illinois, which surprises me. Please look below to see my Local profile to find out more information!

Employment is a big deal in this world because it pays for your health, family, and life. For example without being employed by someone or something, it could be difficult to provide not only for yourself, but others you love. In Chicago employment has taken a couple of changes over the years. Like the unemployment rate in Illinois went up 2 points in 2011, and the county value went down 0.8 points, which is good, as you can see in the chart to the right. (Illinois=Green, Cook County=Red)

Earlier this month I had an interview with a woman named Stacy Tsibulsky who works with Refugee One in Chicago. In our interview I asked her multiple questions about her job and how her work impacts the millennium goal, Poverty and Hunger.

 

The first question I asked her was, “Are you familiar with the Millennium development goals? Have you seen any goals at your job?” She replied with, “ I am, it’s not directly something we work towards or think about, but a lot of what we do is poverty related. Our goal is more global, we try to assist all refugees around the world to get settled in Chicago, but only half of the refugees we help are truly settled with a job.

 

That answer reminded me a lot about the statistics I learned in a CNN article about how teachers had left their jobs because of their salary that they were making. In my opinion I feel like the teachers had no right to leave their job just for money, but for the teachers thinking that they were going to give kids a better education, I tip my hat off to you. The chart above shows the individual unemployed people in Illinois and Cook County. For example, 270,375 people were unemployed in Cook County. In Illinois, 632,199 were unemployed. (Cook County=red, Illinois=green)

Another question that I asked Stacy was, “What type of problems have you seen in the past that has affected employment in Chicago?” She replied with, “Its hard to verbally communicate with refugee’s because they are from a different country and the language they speak is hard to pick up on. Another problem that’s in our way is the economy, because it is hard right now, most jobs are part time. Most jobs don’t offer benefits.” Once she told me that, she reminded me of the access some people get in Chicago that others do not. For example people coming in from a different country might not get the same access to one job as another person that wasborn in the United States because of some reason, which personally I think is kind of unfair. The chart above explains the net job flow in Cook County and Illinois. For example, in 2009 Q3 the county value was 25,219, but the Illinois value is 28,531. This shows you that most people out of Cook County might not get the same access as someone outside of the county.

Bibliography

“America would be better off with more strikes – CNN.com.” CNN.com – Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Sept. 2012. <https://www.cnn.com/2012/09/10/opinion/rhomberg-unions-strikes/index.html?iref=allsearch>.

 

“Illinois Poverty.” Social Impact Research Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2012. <www.ilpovertyreport.org/county/cook-county#.UF_H8qTyZX->.

 

Tsibulsky , Stacey. Phone interview. 21Sept. 2012.

 

By:MML