Illinois certainly has its attractions: a stable workforce, world-class universities, a vast interstate highway system and one of the world’s leading airports in Chicago.

Then again, its reputation for rampant political corruption, high taxes and fiscal irresponsibility that has left the state deeply in debt don’t exactly impress job creators looking for a financially stable, business-accommodating environment in which to operate.

The unemployment rate isn’t the only disquieting news Illinoisans have received of late.

Truth-in-Accounting, the Chicago-based financial watchdog group, recently examined the financial health of the 50 states and ranks Illinois near the very bottom — No. 48.