Despite a full year of job gains, all Illinois metropolitan areas are missing jobs since the pandemic began and the recovery stalled. While May brought job gains statewide, only eight metro areas saw gains while seven saw losses.
Illinois adds 12,800 jobs in May, still missing 136,400 from pandemic
Illinois’ employment recovery continued in May, but the state is still missing nearly one in six jobs lost during the pandemic.
Illinois job opening rate 4th-lowest in nation
Workers looking for a job find fewer opportunities in Illinois than in virtually any other state.
Illinois’ less-populated areas lead May jobs decline
Illinois shed 7,900 jobs in May but most of those losses were outside of urban areas.
Illinois shed 762,200 jobs in April, 12.5 times greater than worst month on record
Record job losses hit the state during the first full month of COVID-19 economic fallout.
COVID-19 potentially impacting one-fourth of Illinois workers
Business sectors directly affected by the coronavirus and mitigation employ 1.5 million Illinoisans. The longer the shutdown, the more industries and jobs face cuts.
Before COVID-19 downturn, Illinois saw shrinking payrolls and nation’s worst loss of manufacturing jobs
New data show Illinois lost private sector jobs amid a national economic expansion for the first year on record in 2019, a sign of the state’s deep structural problems in the run-up to the current market downturn.
Pritzker claims statewide economic growth, but these Illinois metro areas are shedding jobs
Despite Gov. J.B. Pritzker touting growth in “every major region,” Illinois shed jobs in three metropolitan areas and lagged the national average in seven more.
State of the state: Pritzker saw worst first-year jobs numbers since Blagojevich
Illinois job creation lagged the national median in nearly every sector.
Chicago area up 241K jobs, rest of Illinois down 41K jobs from before recession
Illinois’ uneven recovery reflects national trends, but also raises important questions about the state’s economic future ahead of a key tax hike vote.