The Growth of the Chicago Job Market

As we approach both an election year and the beginning of a new decade, there’s a greater conversation happening around the economy. Although these two factors typically signal an impending downturn, Chicago’s economy is showing no signs of slowing.

The Chicago job market is currently experiencing a high rate of growth, especially compared to the rest of the country. In order to navigate this climate, it’s important to understand it.

Here’s a close look at what’s going on in Chicago right now.

The Hard Numbers

Chicago is growing quickly – faster than the entire United States. From June 2018 to June 2019, Chicago added about 90,000 jobs. This works out to 1.8% job growth year-over-year, which is a higher rate for the city than several years prior. The national growth rate at that time was 1.5%.

Additionally, the only city to add more jobs than Chicago in the first half of this year was New York City. This means that Chicago is ahead of many other metropolitan areas in the US, including Los Angeles.

What Does It Mean?

Economists disagree on the exact meaning on this upward trend. It could be indicative of a larger upswing in the city’s economy, or it could be the evening out from The Great Recession. Some economists point out that Chicago typically recovers slower than other areas in the country, so this could be an effect of that phenomena.

Compared to Chicago, the state of Illinois is still lagging slightly behind, as is the housing market. However, some economists are seeing hope in the fact that Chicago is currently leading other metropolitan areas.

As usual, there’s still a lot of uncertainty about the future economy, but Chicago will assuredly enjoy a slight boom for the time being as the numbers continue to trend upwards.

Markets That Are Thriving

Construction is particularly fruitful right now. The city is growing in population as the job market grows, which means there is a need for more offices and residential areas. Adaptive reuse projects are particularly popular for this reason. It allows the city’s history to remain intact, while also making room for homes, businesses, and other important spaces.

Manufacturing is also a big area of growth. Chicago has always been an industrial city, and that does not show any sign of stopping. Manufacturing is still key in the Chicago market and is considered to be a “powerhouse” for the region. Procurement, Supply Chain, Engineering, and Sales are all key areas within this discipline.

If you’d like to learn more about the Chicago market, please reach out to our expert recruitment consultants here at Michael Page. You can also submit a job description, browse our current job listings, or share your resume.