* Greg Hinz…
Extending a trend that’s been developing for several months, the Illinois Department of Employment Security today reported that the state has gained nearly 100,000 nonfarm jobs in the past 12 months. That’s the biggest pop since July 2015, when a year-to-year increase of 105,300 was recorded. Figures shortly before that were much smaller and have dropped off since until now. […]
The specific figures come from household surveys conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and IDES. They show that, between June 2018 and this June, total non-farm employment in the state increased 94,700, to 6.266 million, a rise of about 1.5 percent. […]
The recovery appears to be fairly broad-based, with educational and health services, leisure/hospitality and professional/business services all showing healthy gains.
As a result, the unemployment rate continued to drop, off .3 percent to 4.1 percent in the Chicago area and down .7 percent to 4 percent statewide.
The national unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in June.
* From the IDES press release…
- Huh? - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:39 pm:
In that picture the other day, wasn’t JB holding a sheet of paper showing off how many jobs Illinois gained during his first year as governor?
- Amalia - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:47 pm:
the U.S. economy is on 121 months of growth. it’s not just trump. but politics that change money issues….here and in other countries (Turkey just axed their fed chief, sounding very Trump like cause their leader was dissatisfied on the interest terms) …and supply chain issues (like spats with China) could turn things the other way. the jobs increase is good news, but policies above the state level could impact all of us.
- Oswego Willy - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:49 pm:
Just think if we closed universities and ended collective bargaining and prevailing wage…
- AlfondoGonz - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:54 pm:
Rauner was just a brutal governor.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:56 pm:
Wait for the weed industry to kick in.
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 2:56 pm:
So Metro East and south of I-70 was basically zero.
- Jibba - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:08 pm:
===So Metro East and south of I-70 was basically zero===
Ron, that is a pretty odd take on things. Springfield and East St. Louis also broke even if you added them together, but why would you? Perhaps it is better to say it like the numbers say. Little Egypt did well, Metro East didn’t. Odd to conflate the two unless there is an agenda.
- JS Mill - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:13 pm:
I guess a budget was important. To bad Bruce did figure that out sooner.
- Techie - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:15 pm:
@360 Degree TurnAround, good point. Once the cannabis industry in this state gets under way, not only will those businesses be hiring, but the people they employ will have new revenue to spend and therefore increase demand and hiring in other sectors. Should be a pretty great benefit.
- Honeybear - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:18 pm:
Metro East got clobbered.
- Ole' Nelson - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:20 pm:
Looks like the Turnaround Agenda is finally kicking in./s
- Ron Burgundy - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:24 pm:
My agenda, Jibba, if you must call it that, is those areas need more attention.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:26 pm:
“Wait for the weed industry to kick in.”
The great thing is that businesses will pay us money to create jobs, through taxes, rather than taxpayers giving super-rich corporations billions in tax breaks just to deign to locate in our state.
We are paying for job creation now through taxes via the capital bill, but it’s for infrastructure so many of us will repeatedly use. It’s a great investment. Republicans saw the need for big improvements and casinos, so much thanks to them.
We clearly don’t need right wing snake oil, like RTWFL, whose true goal is to give the wealthiest even more economic and political advantages.
- Jibba - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:32 pm:
Ron, I don’t disagree, but Southern Illinois got some good news, and Metro East some bad news according to this specific report. Can we just allow it to speak for itself rather than regroup the data to make it say something that it does not? Something else will come out eventually that allows us to discuss problems in Southern Illinois.
- 360 Degree TurnAround - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 3:40 pm:
Erin Guthrie has done a great job going around the state over the past couple of weeks promoting the state as well. Mark Denzler has as well. It is amazing to have a governor and the business community saying good things about the state, rather than both of them bashing it.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 4:06 pm:
And here they tell you everybody’s moving out of Illinois whenever they get 100,000 from
- Stormfield - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 4:13 pm:
@4:06 Anon
The population falling and adding jobs are two different things. The population can (and absolutely has been) fall while adding jobs. People can commute over state lines, people who were previously outside the workforce can enter the workforce, unemployed people can find jobs. There are plenty of ways to fill more jobs while the population number is falling.
Not to be a downer, but while the jobs growth is good, the population loss is still very much an issue. I don’t think we should trivialize that, or act like it doesn’t exist.
- City Zen - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 4:21 pm:
BLS has the unemployment rate at 4.3%, not 4%. Not sure why IDES is reporting a different number.
At 4%, we’re still the same 0.3 percentage points above the national average as we were in June 2018. It’s been a grind to reach the national average since 2013’s tankapalooza.
- 62656 - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 4:30 pm:
Stormfield, probably the most under-talked about aspect of the population issue is the low number of births. In Illinois, 20-24 year-olds outnumber 15-19 who outnumber 10-14 who outnumber 5-9 who outnumber 0-4.
- Not a Billionaire - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 4:52 pm:
Manufacturing grew in most metros. With an aging and declining population all the minimum wage arguments will be moot. Most will have to pay it.
- Truthteller - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 5:43 pm:
Looks like the GOps doom and gloom on Illinois and our Gov Priztker working for all the people is again clearly wrong.
- Hickory - Thursday, Jul 25, 19 @ 7:29 pm:
Please give me the number of able bodied that could be working but are not. That’s what is important not the unemployment rate.
- Pick a Name - Friday, Jul 26, 19 @ 8:47 am:
Hickory, U6 unemployment is at its lowest level since early 2001.
In March 2016 U6 unemployment was 9.8. In March 2019 it was 7.3