The Chicago metropolitan region, finally breaking the grip of the national economic recession, added more than 41,000 jobs last year, according to a new study from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
That growth represented a modest gain of 1.4 percent, but it was a sharp turnaround from the previous two years. For 1991 and 1992, the region lost more than 77,000 jobs, the state study showed.
Du Page recorded the largest jobs gain among the suburban counties, with a jump of 14,718. That increase of 3.7 percent boosted the county’s total to 413,093. It was more than double the 6,989 jobs that the county added in 1992.
Kane County registered the smallest gain among the suburban counties with an increase of only 608. That was less than half of the gain of 1,253 in 1992.
Lake County tied Will County in recording the highest percentage increase, 3.9 percent, the study found. Lake added 7,455 new jobs, raising its total to 198,595.
By contrast with much of the rest of the metropolitan area, Lake County’s gain was a continuation of increases recorded in 1992. In that year, the county added 7,081 jobs, for a 3.8 percent rise.
Job gains are “sort of marching along with the population growth,” said Robert Chave, Lake County director of Planning, Zoning and Environmental Quality.
Chave said many of the new jobs are being created in service-sector businesses opening up along the Tri-State Tollway or along the Illinois Highway 22 corridor.
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Will County and the southwest portion of Cook County were among the leaders in job growth, the study found.
The number of jobs in Will County rose nearly 4 percent to 84,634 while, in southwest suburban Cook County, a 3.6 percent increase pushed the total to 172,941.
In McHenry, the gain was 1,989, or 3.7 percent. In northwest Cook County, 12,798 jobs were added, an increase of 3.3 percent. Only Du Page County added more jobs (14,718) during the period studied.
“There’s a whole new confidence in the economy,” said Laurie Stone, executive director of the Greater O’Hare Association of Industry and Commerce.
The study of private-sector employment, conducted annually, is based on employment data for full- and part-time jobs, filed by employers under the state’s unemployment compensation insurance act. The latest study covered the 12-month period that ended last March.
Ruth O’Connell, the state economist who oversaw the new study, said the greatest job gains are occurring in the service sector of the economy, although the wage levels of those workers were not part of the study. But she also said that the decline in manufacturing jobs appears to be slowing.
John Skorburg, chief economist of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, said the job growth recorded last year is only the beginning.
He estimated that an additional 50,000 jobs have been added to the metropolitan total since the period covered in the new report. And he predicted further increases in the coming years, even in Chicago.
“The time is ripe, now that the (Chicago) business community and the mayor are getting together and making economic development a priority,” Skorburg said.
The signs of recovery, as outlined in the study, were most visible in the suburbs, where the number of jobs rose by 2.6 percent to 1,936,111.
Gains were recorded across the board in the suburbs. In northern Cook County, for example, jobs rose by 1,109 while, in the western portion of the county, the increase was 1,015.
But the recovery was even apparent in Chicago despite a continued decline in jobs.
During the period studied, the number of jobs in Chicago fell by nearly 8,700 to 1,087,416. As bad as that job loss was, however, it represented a significant improvement over 1992 when the city’s job base eroded by nearly 50,000.
Also good news for the city were modest job gains recorded on the Northwest Side (1,379) and on the North Side (959). Other areas of the city weren’t as lucky. The West Side, for example, suffered a loss of more than 900 jobs.
The drop in the number of jobs in Chicago is a trend that dates back more than two decades. In 1972, the city had 54 percent of all jobs in the metropolitan region. But, by 1993, its share had shrunk to 36 percent.
Nonetheless, in light of the new figures from the state, Skorburg said the city’s jobs slide could end this year, and he even predicted small increases in the future.
Although it’s too early to be sure, the gains detailed in the new study may be the beginning of a long-term trend of job growth in the metropolitan region, said Max Dieber, research director of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission.
Dieber said NIPC researchers are predicting that, over the long haul, the Chicago region’s share of the national jobs pool will increase. “The Coasts are having problems, and we’re benefiting,” he said.
Skorburg noted that some California firms have called the chamber about the possibility of locating to the Chicago area. He said they are fleeing from a higher cost of doing business and the recent series of natural disasters in the state.
Evanston ranked 12th in the suburbs with 1,295 jobs gained in 1993, and Mayor Lorraine Morton cited a number of developments that have increased jobs in the North Shore city.
“A Sam’s Warehouse opened up and that brought a lot of jobs in. Then there was a custom computer firm that opened up, and Evanston Hospital built a new professional building,” said Morton, who was elected mayor since last May. In addition, she noted, there are a number of new restaurants that have opened up.
“We’re kind of a booming little town,” said the mayor of the city of more than 73,000 people.
The employment rolls jumped by 1,605 in Niles, but village manager Abe Selman couldn’t point to the reasons for the growth.
“We are always very much pro-business in Niles, trying to smooth things through zoning and don’t make them (businesses) go through a lot of red tape,” Selman said. “Our taxes are low and our business fees are low, too.”
In addition, Selman said, the Village Crossing shopping center opened up, as did a Dominick’s supermarket, and with those openings came jobs.
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While the job increase in northern Cook County was relatively minor-just 1,109 new jobs-it was a welcome improvement over 1992. In that year, the northern suburbs lost nearly 4,400 jobs, or 2.4 percent of the total.
By contrast, western Cook County’s gain for 1993 was almost identical to the 1,141 job increase in the previous year.