Jobs in Chicago area slightly down since last year, state data shows

CHICAGO – The total number of jobs in the Chicago metropolitan area declined slightly by about 0.2%, or around 6,700 non-farm jobs, between November 2023 and last month, according to the latest employment numbers.

The region’s unemployment rate also ticked up from 4% last year to 5% at the end of this year. The sectors with the largest job gains included private education, health services, other services, and government. 

Sectors like professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, construction, and transportation, warehousing and utilities saw the largest job losses.

Chicago, other cities see job losses

In the City of Chicago, the unemployment rate rose from 4.5% in November 2023 to 5.7% last month. The unemployment rates in Aurora, Elgin, Joliet, and Naperville also rose during that same period.

Overall, metro areas in the state of Illinois saw about 36,200 new jobs in the past year, although those numbers have not been adjusted to reflect normal seasonal increases or decreases by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The data show that the region in the state with the largest increase in jobs over the last year was Champaign-Urbana, where the University of Illinois’ flagship campus is located. The region saw 2,200 new jobs over the past year.

U.S. unemployment rate up

The state’s increase in its unemployment rate since late 2023 appeared to mirror the increase seen across the country.

The national unemployment rate stood at 4.2% with about 7.1 million people classified as unemployed.

Those numbers were higher than a year earlier when the jobless rate was 3.7% and about 6.3 million people were unemployed.