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WOMEN
DRIVING ILLINOIS’ LABOR MARKET RECOVERY
Illinois Policy Institute/
Orphe Divounguy
Illinois’ labor market has heated up,
gaining 40,900 jobs in October. It was the largest increase in 2021 as
women, especially minority women, returned to work
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 In August 2020, an Illinois Policy
Institute analysis predicted Illinois employment would fail to return to
pre-pandemic levels unless women returned to the workforce. The pandemic
business and school closures had disproportionately hurt working women,
especially minorities, so those who left in greater numbers would be crucial for
the recovery.
Now more than a year later, it is indeed Illinois’ women, and especially
minority women, who are driving the state’s employment recovery.
Of the net increase in employment during the past year, 96% was because of jobs
filled by women and 75% of those women were minorities.
Preliminary data shows Illinois labor market beats expectations in October
Illinois has now experienced 10 consecutive months of employment growth, but at
a slower pace than the rest of the country.
Illinois added 40,900 jobs from mid-September through mid-October, according to
preliminary data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
The only job sectors to lose were the information sector and the educational and
health sector.
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The top sector for job seekers was the professional
and business services, which grew the most at 17,700 (+1.94%)
payroll jobs. The leisure and hospitality sector continued its
post-lockdown recovery by gaining 8,400 (+1.63%) jobs; trade,
transportation and utilities grew by 7,700 (+0.6%); and financial
activities created 3,100 new jobs (+0.78%). What’s
driving Illinois’ recovery?
While the pandemic and public health measures disproportionately
hurt them, women are now driving the state’s recovery. The labor
force participation rate of prime working-age Illinois women
increased while labor force participation among men decreased during
the past year, according to data from the Current Population Survey.
From October 2020 to October 2021, Illinois employment grew by
190,300 jobs, with 65% of those jobs created in the past five
months. The change in employment has been mostly driven by minority
women.
During the past year, employment among men increased by 7,205 jobs
on net compared to 183,095 jobs going to women, with 75% of those
jobs going to minority women. The largest increase in employment was
among Hispanic women. |
