U.S. added eye-popping number of jobs in January. How did Chicago fare?
CHICAGO (CBS) – U.S. employers added 517,000 jobs in January, a mark exceeding all expectations.
That figure is about three times higher than many economists' predictions. But how does Chicago compare to the national numbers?
CBS 2's Sara Machi broke it all down.
The top three hiring sectors are not surprising as we come out of the pandemic, because they include some areas that saw the biggest changes: leisure and hospitality, which lead the way, professional/business services and health care.
But CBS 2 wanted to know: how does Chicago stack up to the national numbers?
"As someone in workforce, this is something we've been hoping to see for a while now," said Patrick Combs, interim CEO of the Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership.
Combs leads the nonprofit that administers federal workforce development funds in Chicago and Cook County, seeing firsthand the local hiring gains that drive national numbers.
With 517,000 jobs added in January, unemployment dropped to 3.4%, the lowest level since 1969. But how?
"More people are coming into the market, looking for jobs and getting jobs," said President Joe Biden.
Combs said it's about changing hiring practices.
"You know, looking at younger individuals, people with disabilities, people who were formally involved in the criminal justice system," Combs said. "People who generally have higher barriers to finding employment."
And the numbers show a return to industries, like leisure and hospitality, that were hit hard in the pandemic.
Combs' organization launched a sign-up page on its website for their annual Hospitality Hires job fair on April 18.
"In the hospitality industry, one strong month is not going to make for the deficit that they had," Combs said. "And it's going to take a little while for them to get back to where they fully are."
CBS 2 reached out to the local Bureau of Labor Statistics office. They said the most recent local numbers are from December and show unemployment numbers in Chicago, Cook County, and Lake County Indiana, were higher than the national average.
DuPage and Kenosha County, Wisconsin, were lower than the national average.
Another area of note: the information sector, which coves a lot of tech companies, fell by 5,000 jobs.
Combs said it's still too soon to tell how that will affect the broader labor market since many of those are well-paid jobs that give employees a cushion.