- The 12-month forecast shows that Illinois is likely to experience an employment decrease 7,600 jobs by May 2018. The greatest increase is likely to occur in Education & health (12,200 more jobs).

- The state of Illinois now has a net gain of 46,400 jobs since the beginning of the recession in December 2007. Given Illinois’ economic performance of late, recovery to the prior peak (adjusted for changes in labor force participation and population growth) recorded in 2000 within five years would seem feasible.

See the full report (Released:6/28/2017)

- Illinois added 2,400 jobs in May 2017. The sectors that gained jobs were Education & health (3,700 more jobs), Construction (4,000 more jobs) and Information (900 more jobs). The sectors that lost jobs in May in Illinois were Trade, transportation & utilities (3,700 less jobs), Government (2,500 less job) and Professional & business services (700 less jobs).

- In May, Illinois’s official unemployment rate was 4.6% while its shadow unemployment rate was 9.41%. To bring the two rates together, in other words bringing down shadow unemployment rate to 4.6%, another 328,500 jobs need to be created.

- The Nation added 138,000 jobs at a rate of 0.09% in May, compared with a revised 174,000-job gain in April 2016. There was growth in three sectors, namely Leisure & hospitality (31,000 more jobs), Professional & business services (38,000 more jobs) and Education & health (47,000 more jobs). Information lost 2,000 jobs, Trade, transportation & utilities lost 6,000 jobs, and Government lost 9,000 jobs.

- Rest of Midwest (RMW) added 12,700 jobs in May after a revised 9,900-job gain in April 2016.

- The 12-month-ahead job recovery forecasts show that the future recovery rates in Illinois will decrease for Construction, Trade, transportation & utilities, Professional & business services, and Other services.

See the full report (Released: 6/28/2017)

- Illinois Rural area lost 5,300 jobs at -0.71% this month, compared to a revised 1,500-job gain in April 2017. At the same time, Metro added 7,700 jobs at 0.14% in May, compared to a revised 8,800-job loss in the previous month. Eight out of ten MSAs posted positive growth. Consequently, the 2,400-job loss in Illinois was mainly driven by increase in the Metro area.

- In the monthly MSA growth league table, the most remarkable upward move in May was recorded for Chicago (6th to 3rd). In the 12-month growth league table, Rockford remained in the last place while Kankakee remained in the first place.

- In Chicago, Construction had the greatest monthly job-gain among all sectors (3,700 more jobs) in May, while Trade, transportation & utilities had the greatest decline (2,700 less jobs). Since the job recovery resumed in March 2010 in Illinois, Chicago Upstate has shown an average growth rate of 11.67%, which is the highest among all the IL MSAs; Bloomington-Normal has experienced the lowest average growth rate, -3.03%.

- The 12-month forecasts show that Chicago is likely to experience a 1.18% job gain by May 2018 (48,800 more jobs). The greatest 12-month growth in Chicago is likely to happen for Professional & business services (26,700 more jobs at 3.49%) but the greatest decline would be for Trade, transportation & utilities (6,300 less jobs at -0.76%).

See the full report (Released: 6/28/2017)

The Chicago Business Activity Index (CBAI) increased to 96.5 in May from 95.5 in April. The rise is attributed to the positive job growth in construction and nonmanufacturing, and to the improvement of retail activities in the Chicago area.

See the full report (Released: 07/18/2017)

According to the forecast for November 2017, Davenport-Rock Island-Moline is likely to perform less well over this period than Chicago. All the other MSAs will compare favorably to Chicago.

See the full report (Released: 12/25/2016)