Illinois’ employment recovery continued in July, but the state is still missing nearly 1 in 9 jobs lost during the pandemic.
Illinois added 31,200 jobs from mid-June through mid-July, marking 14 consecutive months of job gains. However, the state’s unemployment rate of 4.4% remains far higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.5% and third highest of any state in the nation.
June jobs growth was also revised to show gains of 16,000, rather than the 18,800 originally estimated, according to data released Aug. 18 by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
Nearly all major industries experienced job gains during the month. The largest gains came from the professional and business services sector, which grew payrolls by 10,000 during the month.
Manufacturing accumulated an additional 6,300 jobs; trade, transportation and utilities added 5,700 payroll positions; government employment grew by 4,300; leisure and hospitality payrolls grew by 3,400; financial activities gained an additional 2,200 jobs; other services added 1,800 positions; and the information sector added 300 jobs.
However, some industries also shed jobs or stagnated. Mining experienced no change in employment; construction and educational and health services payrolls both declined by 1,400 during July.
The construction sector experienced its first job losses in five months while education and health payrolls declined for the first time in six months. June marked the fifth consecutive month of either no job gains or job losses for Illinois’ mining industry.
Despite monthly growth in total payrolls during the past year, Illinois is still missing 88,600 jobs relative to pre-pandemic l …