Manufacturing layoffs drive Illinois job cuts in February
Virtually all of over 1,900 health care workers will get the opportunity to join a new employer.
Employers reported 4,153 mass layoffs to the state last month, but the actual number will likely be closer to 2,300.
More than 1,900 of the reported cuts resulted from the planned sale of Franciscan Alliance’s hospital in south suburban Olympia Fields. California-based Prime Healthcare, which has agreed to buy the hospital in a deal that includes Specialty Physicians of Illinois LLC, has committed to offering jobs to “substantially all employees.”
The largest permanent job losses were in manufacturing, at 1,264. More than 1,000 of those were announced by global automotive parts supplier First Brands, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2025.
First Brands closed its distribution center in McHenry, accounting for 389 job cuts, and laid off 642 workers at facilities in Albion in Southern Illinois.
Layoffs also were reported by Walgreen Co. (469), H&M Fashion USA (181) and Panera LLC (119).
Most of the layoffs are slated to be complete by early May, though one company said its cuts would be finished by yearend, according to data from Illinois workNet.
The state monitors big job losses via the Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which requires large employers to report plans for significant layoffs. The data is not a perfect snapshot of the Illinois economy but provides a look at how layoffs shift from month to month and where they hit hardest.
Job loss news serves as a warning about Illinois’ business climate. The state has dropped to 38th in a nationwide business tax climate ranking, and in recent research ranks 45th in the country for entrepreneurship and economic growth.
Illinois needs comprehensive reforms to improve its economic situation and reduce future layoffs. Those include ending excessive occupational licensing, expanding school choice, reducing the nation’s No. 1 property tax rate, lowering the third-highest corporate income taxes in the U.S., and investing more in apprenticeship programs to help keep companies and jobs in Illinois.