Illinois is facing an increase in job cuts and unemployment rates, while the growth of workers’ wages is slowing down. This is a concerning trend for the state’s economy.
In July, the number of layoffs in Illinois increased for the third consecutive month, as reported by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) reports. A total of 1,169 workers in Illinois were laid off during this period.
According to Orphe Divounguy, an economist and host of the Everyday Economics podcast, the country’s unemployment rate is currently at its highest point since February 2018, not including the months affected by the pandemic. This is in addition to the job losses caused by the pandemic.
Divounguy expressed concern over the slowing of hiring and the lower than anticipated increase in employment. He believes that this is an indication of rising recession fears.
According to Divounguy, the increase in wages is not as significant as it used to be.
According to Divounguy, the year-over-year wage growth has decreased to 3.6%, which is a drop from 3.9% in June.
According to Divounguy, the Fed’s focus is likely to shift from inflation to the labor market.
From January to July of this year, Illinois reported 7,300 layoffs. Based on WARN numbers from reporting states, Illinois had a higher number of layoffs than Florida with 7,198, but lower than California, Texas, New York, and Washington with 37,100, 14,441, 11,086, and 8,250 respectively.
Last month, four companies in Illinois, namely John Deere located in Moline, GEODIS situated in Romeoville, NBC Universal/NBC Sports Chicago, and Keplr Vision of Bloomington, reported laying off 100 or more employees.
According to Divounguy, the U.S. economy is nearing the brink of a recession.
Divounguy expressed concern that if the current level of initial jobless claims persists or increases, analysts may become worried.
In July, the Democratic National Convention Committee announced that 75 layoffs would take place on September 6, after the DNC in Chicago.
Carin Stutz, Chair of the Western Illinois University Board of Trustees, clarified the board’s decision to approve a certain number of job reductions.
According to Stutz, the university has utilized restricted funds to cover revenue shortfalls in the past. However, these funds have now been depleted.
WIU has recently announced the decision to add to the 36 layoffs that occurred in June with another round of job cuts. The announcement was made on Tuesday.
