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Chicago Construction Jobs Decline

Posted on March 12, 2009

While nearly every industry in the Chicago area saw an over-the-year job decrease during January, the ax fell hardest on Chicago construction jobs.

The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area’s unemployment rate came in at 8.2 percent during January, up from 6.9 percent during December 2008. The area had a total non-farm employment of 3,697,200 workers during January, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 3,810,400 workers during December and a 2.8 percent decrease from last year.

Chicago’s construction industry only employed 137,000 workers during January, down from 153,400 workers during December and a 10 percent decrease from last year. The area’s construction industry has seen an over-the-year decline every month for the last six months: by 5.3 percent during August, by 6.3 percent during September, by 7.4 percent during October, by 9 percent during November, by 10.2 percent during December and by 10 percent during January.

Other industries that saw an over-the-year decrease in Chicago jobs during January include:

  • mining and logging by 7.1 percent
  • manufacturing by 5.8 percent
  • trade, transportation and utilities by 4.1 percent
  • information by 2.4 percent
  • financial activities by 3.7 percent
  • professional and business services by 4.3 percent
  • leisure and hospitality by 2.9 percent
  • other services by .3 percent

    • The only industries that saw an over-the-year jobs gain during January were education and health services by, which increased by 2.5 percent to 521,500 workers, and government, which increased by .2 percent to 471,900 workers.