Unemployment

More Unemployment Data:

Center for Economic and Policy Research:

CEPR analyzes and provides access to information related to social and economic issues. CEPR's Jobs Bytes posts timely analysis of governmental data releases on employment. 

Economic Policy Institute:

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) focuses on the economic condition of low-income and middle-income Americans and their families. EPI's Datazone provides data and resources related to unemployment.

Check out Economy Track, an effort to follow state level unemployment in the wake of the recession.

State Economies Headed in the Wrong Direction

This visual display of state unemployment and accompanying article by EPI's Doug Hall highlights the impact of the recession across the country.

For more EPI Publications click here.

Brookings Institute:

Brookings is a policy research organization based in Washington D.C. which publishes article briefs related to unemployment and many other topics.

Sources:

U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Metro Chicago Information Center
Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES)

Comments or Questions?

Please contact WIRE staff by phone or email with feedback or questions. 

Greg Shirbroun

Phone: 312-252-0436

Email: greg@cjc.net

The following is a listing of unemployment figures for different geographic levels in the state of Illinois (state, county, city, public use microdata area, etc.), and additional tools for understanding unemployment. The data comes from the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The localized information was mostly filtered by the Metro Chicago Information Center (MCIC). 

Illinois Unemployment 

December 2011 Unemployment Rate in Illinois: 9.8% ¹

November 2011 Unemployment Rate in Illinois: 10.0%¹   

Visit the Bureau of Labor Statistics for unemployment data at the county level for each of the past 14 months.²  

Click here for city-level unemployment rates throughout Illinois.³  

Chicago Unemployment 

December 2011 Unemployment Rate for Chicago: 10.3% ^{2, 3}

November 2011 Unemployment Rate for Chicago: 11.2%

Chicago Local Area Unemployment 

• Unemployment figures by PUMA for 2009 
• Unemployment figures by PUMA for 2007

There are 19 PUMAs in Chicago. One PUMA often contains multiple Chicago neighborhoods.  Please note: It is only possible to use these tools to find the unemployment rate of the PUMA.  Specific neighborhood rates would differ.  

To locate neighborhoods within PUMAs use the following resources:

• The PUMA Locator from MCIC
• Explanation of PUMA's from the Chicago Rehab Network.

Measuring Unemployment  

A key indicator of labor market status for a state, county, or city is the unemployment rate.  The definition of unemployed according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a person who, "is without work, available for work, and has actively searched for work."  Although the "official unemployment rate" cited most often by the government is defined as, "the total unemployed persons, as a percent of the civilian labor force," this measurement is only one of six used by the government to understand labor underutilization.  The chart below defines all six of the measurements.

For more information see this report on unemployment measurements from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  

Notes from U.S. BLS:

_{A The civilian labor force is the sum of the employed plus the unemployed.  The employed are all persons who, during the reference week, a) did any work at all as paid employees, worked in their own business, profession, or on their own farm, or worked 15 hours or more as unpaid workers in an enterprise operated by a member of their family, and b) all those who were not working but who had jobs or businesses from which they were temporarily absent.  The unemployed are a) persons who had no employment during the reference week, were available for work, except for temporary illness, and had made specific efforts to find work sometime during the 4-week period ending with the reference week, and b) persons who were waiting to be recalled to a job from which they had been laid off, regardless of whether they have been looking for work.} 

_{B Discouraged workersare a subset of the marginally attached. They must report they are not currently looking for work for one of four reasons. 1) They believe no job is available to them in their line of work. 2) They had previously been unable to find work. 3) They lack the necessary schooling, training, skills or experience.  4) Employers think they are too young or too old, or they face some other type of discrimination.}

_{C "Marginally attached" workers arepersons without jobs who are not currently looking for work, but who nevertheless have demonstrated some degree of labor force attachment.  Specifically, to be counted as marginally attached, individuals must indicate that they currently want a job, have looked for work in the last 12 months, and are available for work.}

Footnotes

_{¹Figures come from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  A new state-level figure is released every month.}

²_{Please note: These figures are not seasonally adjusted, meaning the effects of regular, or seasonal patterns, were not taken into account during the calculation process.}

³_{All of these figures are provided by IDESand are not seasonally adjusted.}

Visit CJC's other pages dedicated to the following topics: 

• Poverty 
• Self-Sufficiency Standard
• Labor Market Information

Also, do not forget to check out highlighted topics in Featured Data.