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Illinois jobs and job market: layoffs, colleges and workforce help

Illinois’s unemployment rate is 4.7%. 13,842 open professional jobs are listed here. Employers filed 112 layoff notices in the last 12 months. Choose a county or city for the same picture closer to home.

Illinois economy

  • 4.7%

    unemployment, Aug 2026

    4.3% the month before

  • 6,477,009

    in the labor force

    Source: BLS Local Area Unemployment Statistics

  • 12,692,653

    people in Illinois

    Source: U.S. Census Bureau

  • $81,702

    median household income

    Source: Census ACS

  • 43%

    of workers in white-collar occupations

    Management, business, financial and professional; Census ACS

Illinois layoffs

  • 112

    WARN layoff notices, last 12 months

  • 19,800

    workers named

    A floor: states may leave out counts

  • 88

    employers

WARN notices filed in Illinois, newest first
Notice dateEmployerCity or countyWorkersTypeSource
ES Suites HotelEast Walton Chicago40ClosureState record
Provider Partners Care Management, L.P.Springfield43—State record
Success Lending, LLCSchaumburg121ClosureState record
DSV Contract LogisticsEdwardsville175—State record
Volante of Arlington HeightsArlington Heights61—State record
Continental Web Press, Inc.Itasca92ClosureState record
Charles Industries, LLCRantoul75ClosureState record
Uber Technologies, Inc.Chicago363—State record
Fulton Troika, LLCChicago109ClosureState record
AmetekBloomingdale63—State record

All layoff notices in the state

Get an email when a new notice is filed for Illinois

One email a day at most, only when there is something new. No account needed.

Employers hiring most in Illinois

Employers with the most open professional roles on our job board right now.

  1. Northern Trust155 open roles
  2. AbbVie139 open roles
  3. Confidential131 open roles
  4. Kraft Heinz125 open roles
  5. Michael Page122 open roles
  6. Amazon103 open roles
  7. Arthur J. Gallagher81 open roles
  8. Mars80 open roles
  9. Robert Half77 open roles
  10. Gallagher Bassett76 open roles
  11. Gallagher75 open roles
  12. West Monroe75 open roles

Largest employers headquartered in Illinois

Employee counts with a year are published figures (Wikidata). Other sizes are estimates from our company directory, not payroll counts.

Higher education in Illinois

  • 86

    public and private nonprofit colleges

    Source: IPEDS, U.S. Department of Education

  • about 737,000

    students enrolled

    Estimated from size bands

Largest colleges in Illinois

Largest colleges in Illinois
CollegeCityTypeStudents
DePaul UniversityChicagoPrivate nonprofit 4-year20,000+
Illinois State UniversityNormalPublic 4-year20,000+
Northwestern UniversityEvanstonPrivate nonprofit 4-year20,000+
University of Illinois ChicagoChicagoPublic 4-year20,000+
University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignChampaignPublic 4-year20,000+
Loyola University ChicagoChicagoPrivate nonprofit 4-year10,000–19,999
Northern Illinois UniversityDekalbPublic 4-year10,000–19,999
Southern Illinois University EdwardsvilleEdwardsvillePublic 4-year10,000–19,999
Southern Illinois University-CarbondaleCarbondalePublic 4-year10,000–19,999
University of ChicagoChicagoPrivate nonprofit 4-year10,000–19,999
Aurora UniversityAuroraPrivate nonprofit 4-year5,000–9,999
Columbia College ChicagoChicagoPrivate nonprofit 4-year5,000–9,999

All 86 Illinois colleges

Workforce development and job centers

The public workforce board and American Job Centers serving Illinois. They offer free help with job search, training and filing for benefits.

82 American Job Centers in Illinois

Job fairs and business events in Illinois

Hiring events, career workshops, small-business counseling and startup events from chambers, job centers, workforce boards, colleges and economic-development groups in Illinois.

Conferences in Illinois

Industry conferences and trade shows held in Illinois, the ones worth a trip for hiring managers and job seekers. 81 with dates announced.

Showing 24 of 106 conferences, 81 with dates announced.

All conferences

Illinois counties

Each county page has its own unemployment, layoffs, job openings, employers, colleges and job centers.

Illinois cities

Cities with open jobs, layoff notices, a job center or a college.

Laid off or looking for work in Illinois?

See what to do first, what Illinois unemployment benefits pay, and the jobs open near you.

See your options after a layoff

Sources: Census Bureau and BLS for population, income and unemployment; WARN notices from Illinois’s published record; job counts from our live job board, taken from employers’ own career sites; IPEDS for colleges; CareerOneStop for workforce boards and job centers. Illinois unemployment benefits.