Employment

Summary

City One

Not surprisingly, City 1 has the highest labor force participation and lowest unemployment rates in Chicago.  City 1 is also home to the highest concentration of workers in the Finance and Insurance sector, as well as the professional, scientific, and technical services sector of the economy.  Workers from City 1 are also the most likely to work in the city and work in or around the central business district.

City Two

City 2 is home to the smallest portion of Chicago’s labor force when compared to Cities 1 and 3.  While its unemployment rate has decreased substantially since 2010, its labor force participation rate (65%) is much lower than City 1.  City 2 has the highest concentration of workers in the Educational Services sector compared to Cities 1 and 3, and also a high concentration of workers in the Health Care and Social Assistance sector.

City Three

City 3 has the lowest labor force participation rate of the three cities.  Furthermore, its 2017 unemployment rate remains high (14%).  Those who can find work are more likely to hold primary jobs in low wage sectors like Retail Trade and Food and Accommodation Services.  Workers in City 3 are also more likely to travel outside of the city for their primary jobs.

Labor Force Participation

In 2017, 1,469,850 Chicago residents were participating in the labor force. The U.S. Census Bureau defines labor force participants as individuals ages 16-64 that are currently working or searching for a job.  This includes people who are employed and unemployed.  Almost 44% of Chicago’s labor force lived in City 3 in 2017.  A breakdown of Chicago’s total labor force participation by City is displayed in Figure 1.

In 2017, City 1 had the highest labor force participation rate in Chicago. That is, of all the working age people living in City 1, 77.4% were either working or looking for a job.  By contrast, the working age population living in City 3 had the lowest labor force participation rate (61.3%). Labor force participation rates are displayed for each city in Figure 2.

Unemployment

Between 2010 and 2017, Chicago’s unemployment rate (the percentage of labor force participants who did not have a job, reported looking for work in the previous four weeks, and were currently available for work) dropped from 11.3% to 9.9%.   However, as Figure 3 illustrates, disparities in unemployment rates between City 3 and Cities 1 & 2 grew between 2010 and 2017.   That is, the unemployment rate for the labor force living in City 1 had fallen to 4.5% from 6.3%.  Similarly, the labor force living in City 2 also experienced a substantial decrease in its unemployment rate.  In contrast, the unemployment rate for the labor force living in City 3 remained above 14% in 2017, more than triple the unemployment rate of City One.

Employment Dynamics

According to data from the Census Bureau’s Longitudinal Employer-House Dynamics (LEHD) by 2017:

• City 1 was home to the highest concentration of workers employed in Finance and Insurance (10.4%), and Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (17.9%).
• City 2 was home to the highest concentration of workers employed in Educational Services (10.7%).
• City 3 was home to the highest concentration of workers employed in Manufacturing (8.7%), Retail Trade (10.8%), Administration & Support, Waste Management and Remediation (10.4%), Health Care and Social Assistance (15.0%), and Accommodation and Food Services (10.6%).

For a complete breakdown of jobs by Industry Sector, see Figure 4.

Worker Flows

In 2017, large portions of employed workers in all three cities relied on jobs all over the city and its surroundings. Workers living in City 1 were the most likely to hold a primary job located in Chicago (71.3%) when compared to workers living in City Two (62.1%) and City Three (58.9%).   Further, almost 40% of workers living in City 1 had primary jobs located in and around Chicago’s Central Business District (the Loop). While workers living in City 2 and City 3 were also concentrated in the Loop, the vast majority worked in other locations.