Illinois' economy may have turned a corner last month, but the economic devastation wrought by the collapse of the housing market means full recovery is still a long way off. Our budget deficit is enormous. We currently have 138,433 homes in foreclosure -- the third highest state total in nation -- and another 40,205 houses for sale. Our unemployment rate is still hovering above 11 percent. And according to the most recent data available, it takes the median jobless Illinois worker 15.5 weeks to find new work.

That figure, via Annie Lowrey, comes from the Economic Policy Institute's (EPI) recent state-by-state analysis. Michigan is the only state in the Midwest with a longer unemployment period.  Check out EPI's full map here.