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According to the preliminary data, the industry sectors with the
biggest job gains during the month were professional and
business services, which added 17,700 jobs; leisure and
hospitality, which added 8,400 jobs; and trade, transportation
and utilities, which gained 7,700 jobs.
Those gains were partially offset by job losses in the
information sector and educational and health services.
“Today’s data are positive markers indicating a continued
recovery to our economy and labor market,” Deputy Gov. Andy
Manar said in a statement. “IDES continues to work with
employers and jobseekers to assist matching businesses with
those looking to reenter the workforce or make career changes.”
Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity Director Sylvia
Garcia said the numbers showed that Gov. JB Pritzker’s
administration’s economic recovery policies during the pandemic
have had positive results.
“Monthly labor reports continue to prove that our
administration’s investments to stimulate small businesses,
deliver workforce development grants and jumpstart community and
capital development projects across our state are paying
dividends,” she said in a statement.
The October jobless rate in Illinois was 1.4 percentage points
higher than the national rate, but it was 2.1 percentage points
below where it was a year earlier.
Compared to a year ago, the number of nonfarm payroll jobs was
up by 190,300, with gains showing up in nearly all major
industries.
The leisure and hospitality sector, which was hit hardest by the
pandemic, has added back 60,800 jobs while professional and
business services have gained back 50,000 jobs. The trade,
transportation and utilities sector has added 37,200.
Financial activities, which is still down by 5,200 jobs, was the
only industry group that reported jobs losses over the year.
Total nonfarm payrolls were up 3.4 percent over the year in
Illinois and 4.1 percent in the nation.
Along with the October jobless figures, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics made a significant downward adjustment to the
September unemployment rate, lowering it to 6.2 percent from the
preliminary estimate of 6.8 percent. That was due to an
adjustment BLS had made in January to the way it estimates the
size of a state’s labor force in order to account for the impact
of the pandemic.
IDES said in a news release that the adjustment inadvertently
created “distortions” to statewide labor force estimates for
Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin for January and
all subsequent months through September 2021.
BLS said the distortions were only recently identified after
Illinois and another state in the agency’s East North Central
Division raised concerns about their monthly 2021 labor force
estimates. The BLS has found that distortions to the Illinois
labor force estimates are limited to January-September 2021.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan
news service covering state government and distributed to more
than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the
Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick
Foundation.
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