Peoria-based heavy-equipment manufacturer Caterpillar has announced a possible move of up to 800 manufacturing jobs out of Aurora.

After receiving incentives and abatements guaranteed by state and local taxpayer dollars, Amazon announces two new facilities in Aurora.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security’s newly released jobs report shows Illinois’ 1,700 jobs gained in November were concentrated in white-collar service sectors, and that blue-collar fields, such as manufacturing, lost jobs.

CAT announces more layoffs due to anticipated losses in 2017.

Chicago and Illinois have plenty of their own problems on the manufacturing front, with issues such as high property taxes and workers’ compensation costs driving production facilities to other states. But U.S. trade policy regarding sugar isn’t helping matters. For each one sugar growing and harvesting job saved through high U.S. sugar tariffs, nearly three confectionery manufacturing jobs are lost, according to the International Trade Administration.

Metropolitan jobs data show that from September 2015 – September 2016 the greater Chicago area is up approximately 49,000 jobs, while the rest of the state is down 6,000 jobs.

More than 6,000 Illinois manufacturing jobs disappeared in 2015.

More than half of the month’s jobs losses occurred in the manufacturing sector.

Continued jobs losses in manufacturing underscore the need to reform the state’s onerous tax and regulatory policies.

Vonco is the second major packaging manufacturer to leave Illinois in less than two weeks.