INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC — A look at Illinois’ high rate of long-term unemployment: In 2000, the number of Illinois workers unemployed for more than six months was around 36,000. A decade later, that number skyrocketed to 254,000. Our latest interactive graphic looks at the average duration of unemployment in five Midwestern states.
Have you been unemployed for longer than six months since the recession hit?
Chicago Auto Show — Ford, Chrysler beef up assembly lines: Auto manufacturers are bringing more than just cars to Chicago, they’re also bringing jobs. Ford Motor Co., for example, moved production of its police vehicles to Chicago after closing a plant in Canada. “Every single police unit that is made by Ford is made here in Chicago,” said Mary Culler, Ford’s director of government affairs.
Credit: Ford Motor Company / Flickr
Facebook, LinkedIn like Chicago’s ad connections, increase hiring: While Groupon Inc. is bulking up in Silicon Valley, many of the web’s highest-flying companies are staffing up here.
Photo: Four years ago, Mike Gamson was LinkedIn’s sole Chicago-based employee. His office now employs 110 and is growing. Credit: Stephen J. Serio
U.S. unemployment rate falls to nearly three-year low: Employers went on a hiring spree in January, adding 243,000 jobs and driving down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month.
Credit: pritzkerphoto.com / Flickr
Illinois teens face bleak job prospects, report says: Teenagers have trouble finding jobs anywhere in America, but the task has become particularly tough in Illinois, according to a new report being released on Tuesday. Just 27.5 percent of Illinois teenagers were employed full or part time in 2011, down from around 50 percent in 1999-2000, the study finds.
