FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JANUARY 27, 2010

ITASCA, IL – State Senator Carole Pankau concludes, upon review of the 2009 DuPage County unemployment statics, that implementation of her “Buy DuPage” economic development program will create upwards of 25,000 new jobs in DuPage County alone.

The 2009 DuPage County unemployment figures show that there were 45,173 unemployed workers at the end of 2009, as opposed to 33,578 unemployed workers at the beginning of the year.

“With each resident committing to spending $2 more per day in DuPage, our “Buy DuPage” economic development program can create 25,000 jobs, by pumping $728 million dollars into the DuPage economy. This is a 5% growth in the county’s GDP,” said Pankau. “In these economic times, we need creative and unique ways to organically grow our local economy, we can not rely on the state or federal government to come in and bail us out; our county can, and should, aspire to grow jobs organically.”

Pankau’s “Buy DuPage” program is a program that encourages DuPage county residents to take a more pro-active approach to helping organically grow the DuPage economy by spending $2 more per day in DuPage county, as opposed to other counties. Pankau’s plan does not require increased spending by families, rather the program challenges families and DuPage residents to buy everyday items, from coffee, to milk, to newspapers, in DuPage County.