- The 12-month forecast shows that Illinois is likely to experience an employment increase of 23,700 jobs by October 2019. The greatest increase is likely to occur in Education & health (12,900 more jobs).

- The state of Illinois now has a net gain of 148,900 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: 11/24/2018)

- Illinois added 10,300 jobs in October 2018. The sectors that gained jobs were Trade, transportation and utilities (5,300 more jobs), Information (2,000 more jobs), Government (1,300 jobs) and Manufacturing (1,300 more jobs). The sectors that lost jobs in September in Illinois were Professional & business services (-2,000 less jobs) and Financial activities (-600).

- In October, Illinois’s official unemployment rate was 4.2% while its shadow unemployment rate was 9.09%. To bring the two rates together, in other words bringing down shadow unemployment rate to 4.2%, another 348,000 jobs need to be created.

- The Nation added 250,000 jobs at a rate of 0.17% in October, compared with a revised 118,000-job gain in September 2018. There was growth in three sectors, namely Leisure & hospitality (42,000 more jobs), Professional & business services (44,000 more jobs), and Trade, transportation and utilities (37,000 more jobs).

- The RMW added 22,200 jobs in October after a 200-job loss in September 2018.

- The 12-month-ahead job recovery forecasts show that the future recovery rates in Illinois will increase for every sector except Professional & business services and Other Services.

See the full report (Released: 11/24/2018)

- Illinois Rural area lost 10,900 jobs at -1.43% this month, compared to a revised 9,300-job gain in September 2018. At the same time, Metro added 21,200 jobs at 0.39% in October, compared to a revised 7,600-job loss in the previous month. Consequently, the 10,300-job gain in Illinois was driven by increase in metro areas.

- The most remarkable upward move in October was recorded for Metro-East (9th to 2nd). In the 12-month growth league table, upward move was recorded for Decatur (6th to 4th), and Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul (7th to 5th), and Bloomington-Normal (9th to 8th).

- In Chicago, Trade, transportation and utilities had the greatest monthly job-gain among all sectors (6,000 more jobs) in Ocotober, while Other Services had the greatest decline (300 less jobs). Since the job recovery resumed in January 2010 in Illinois, Kankakee has shown an average growth rate of 14.53%, which is the highest among all the IL MSAs; Bloomington-Normal has experienced the lowest average growth rate, -2.42%.

- The 12-month forecasts show that Chicago is likely to experience a 0.52% job gain by October 2019 (21,800 more jobs). The greatest 12-month growth in Chicago is likely to happen for Manufacturing (10,500 more jobs) but the greatest decline would be for Professional & business services (-1,900).

See the full report (Released: 11/24/2018)

- The Chicago Business Activity Index (CBAI) decreased to 100.9 in September from 103.1 in August. The decrease is mainly attributed to negative non-manufacturing job growth and a decline in nationwide economic activities measured by the Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI).

See the full report (Released: 11/18/2018)

- According to the forecast for September 2018, Davenport-Rock Island-Moline, Decatur, and Peoria are likely to perform worse over this period than Chicago. All the other MSAs will compare favorably to Chicago.

See the full report (Released: 11/24/2018)