Illinois saw a significant slowdown in employment growth during August. The state is still missing 80,700 jobs from the pandemic.

Illinois’ lagging pandemic recovery continued across its cities in July. Only 1 metropolitan area has recovered from the pandemic.

Illinois stands as one of the states with the most to gain – and lose – as the national economy continues to surpass job growth expectations.

Illinois’ employment recovery continued in July, but the state is still missing nearly 1 in 9 jobs lost during the pandemic.

Only Bloomington has recouped early 2020 job losses, which is bad news for Illinois’ lagging economy as recession fears increase.

With the highest unemployment rate in the Midwest and 117,000 jobs still missing, Illinois’ labor market is among the least recovered in the region.

Illinois’ job opening rate declined 1.5 percentage points in May. That’s not a good way to enter a potential recession.

Wages have failed to keep up with inflation, dropping Illinoisans’ purchasing power by $2,900 on average.

Illinois is one of the states with the most to gain from the continued national jobs recovery, but could be hit harder than other states by a recession.