Chicago Job Losses the Worst in the State

[Cheezhead]

Finding jobs in Chicago has been becoming steady more difficult since November. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), May was the 7th month in a row that the metro area’s jobless rate raised. During the month, the unemployment rate climbed 0.8 percent from April’s 9.9 percent to 10.7 percent, which is somewhat higher than the national jobless rate of 9.4. In May of 2008, only 6.2 percent of the Chicago’s population was without work.

Illinois jobless rate also rose during the month of May. The figure climbed 0.7 percent from April’s 9.4 percent to 10.1 percent. During the same month of last year only 6.4 percent of the state’s population did not have a job.

Currently there are approximately 440,400 people in the metro area that are claiming unemployment benefits. This figure does not include those individual who have become discouraged and given up looking for work altogether or those that have exhausted their jobless benefits. Approximately 3,687,700 people in the area are still employed

According to the Chicago Tribune, the metro experienced the largest job losses in Illinois in May. Data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security shows that Chicago’s job market has seen a 4.8 percent decline over the course of the last 12 months. This translates to a loss of 185,900 positions.

Over the course of the last year, only one industry in the area has posted job gains. According to the BLS, the health and education services sector has seen an increase of 1 percent over the last 12 months. Due the necessity of the services this industry provides it has continued to be mostly recession proof, which has saved it from the devastating job losses experienced by many sectors.

During the last 12 months, the construction industry in the area has seen the largest decline. This sector has lost 14.7 percent of the jobs it provided in May of 2008. Across the country this industry has taken one of the hardest hits because both the financial crisis and the collapse of the housing market have affected it.

Other industries in the area that have experienced a greater than 10 percent job loss in the last 12 months included mining and logging and manufacturing.