Chicago Area Beats Rest of State for Job Growth
CHICAGO, Feb. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — Private sector employment in the Chicago area reached an all-time high in 2016 and accounts for 85 percent of all private sector jobs added in the State of Illinois since the Great Recession.
Recent analysis by Mr. Peter Bernstein, Vice President at RCF Economic & Financial Consulting, Inc. (www.rcfecon.com) shows that the Chicago area and the rest of Illinois both suffered substantial job losses during the Great Recession. But only the Chicago area has recovered its lost jobs, and in fact the area reached an all-time high in employment in 2016. In contrast, employment in the rest of Illinois has hardly seen any job recovery over the past seven years, and employment there remains both below its pre-Great Recession peak and below its level in 2001.
The difference between the Chicago area economy and the economy in the rest of the state has had and will continue to have important implications for Illinois. Future RCF reports will look deeper at these issues and will also compare the experience of the Chicago area with that of other major cities in the Midwest and around the U.S.
Source: Employment statistics obtained from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Chicago Area is defined as the 7-County area which includes Cook, DuPage, Grundy, Kendall, McHenry, Will and Lake Counties.
The full analysis can be found on RCF’s website (www.rcfecon.com) or directly at http://www.rcfecon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/RCF-Employment-Trends-in-the-Chicago-Area-and-the-Rest-of-Illinois-February-2017.pdf
For additional information or questions, please contact Mr. Peter Bernstein, RCF Vice President, 312-41-1540 ext.1515 or by email: [email protected].
About RCF Economic & Financial Consulting, Inc.
Founded in 1978, Chicago-based RCF is an economic and financial consulting firm led by internationally renowned economists. The firm works on a wide variety of projects and applies high level economic and statistical analyses to solve important problems. RCF conducts economic impact analyses of policies and contemplated actions by businesses and public agencies, advises clients, and provides support for litigation and regulatory proceedings including expert testimony.
SOURCE RCF Economic & Financial Consulting, Inc.