Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Illinois Job Growth

There were 4,805,400 jobs in Chicago, Illinois in November 2019 according to the CES survey of employers. The CPS survey of households showed 4,709,330 employed persons for the month. Chicago lost 8,300 jobs in November 2019 according to the CES survey while the broader CPS measure of employment fell by 4,898 (Comparing CES and CPS employment numbers.). You can also compare Chicago job growth to job growth in other cities.

Employment Survey	November 2019	Month/Month	Year/Year
CES	4,805,400	-8,300	+28,400
CPS	4,709,330	-4,898	+23,696

Note: The CPS survey data is now seasonally adjusted at the metropolitan level by with the new BLS SSA series.

Chicago, Illinois Employment Changes

The charts below show the monthly job growth for Chicago as measured by the CES and CPS surveys. To illustrate the trend, the 3 month moving average change in employment is shown in green.

CES Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

CPS Employment Change: 1 Month, Rolling 3 Month

Total Employment for Chicago, Illinois

CES employment for Chicago peaked in October 2019 at 4,813,700. Since then 8,300 jobs have been lost in Chicago according to the employer survey.

CPS employment reached a maximum of 4,716,331 for Chicago in September 2019. 7,001 jobs have been lost in Chicago since then according to the household survey.

Employment: CES, CPS

Chicago, Illinois Employment History

Date	CES Employment	CES Month/Month	CPS Employment	CPS Month/Month
November 2019	4,805,400	-8,300	4,709,330	-4,898
October 2019	4,813,700	9,400	4,714,228	-2,103
September 2019	4,804,300	-2,100	4,716,331	1,512
August 2019	4,806,400	-2,200	4,714,819	9,169
July 2019	4,808,600	3,300	4,705,650	2,690
June 2019	4,805,300	11,100	4,702,960	3,873
May 2019	4,794,200	-6,900	4,699,087	-2,877
April 2019	4,801,100	21,800	4,701,964	5,316
March 2019	4,779,300	-7,800	4,696,648	3,807
February 2019	4,787,100	-7,300	4,692,841	3,502
January 2019	4,794,400	11,300	4,689,339	3,896
December 2018	4,783,100	6,100	4,685,443	-191