1,190 Illinois jobs shed in July, with Deere leading for 2nd month
The Quad Cities will experience a combined 319 job cuts after John Deere announced layoffs at both its World Headquarters in Moline and Harvester Works factory in East Moline. Romeoville saw more than 1-in-4 of the mass layoffs statewide.
Illinois companies announced 1,190 mass layoffs in July, with John Deere leading the state in job cuts for a second month by shedding another 319 employees.
Deere initially announced 600 layoffs. The layoffs appeared in state reports in June, with the first 279 job cuts, and another 319 in the July report that was just released, for a total of 598 jobs lost at the agricultural machine manufacturer.
The highest concentration of Illinois’ July job losses – 300 of the 1,190 layoffs – were to hit Romeoville after job cuts were announced at two warehousing and storage companies, according to Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification reports.
Romeoville accounted for more than 1-in-4 mass layoffs announced in July. Moline followed closely with the second most layoffs at John Deere.
NBC Universal Media and NBC Sports Chicago cut 130 jobs in Chicago. Another 75 Chicago jobs were cut as the Democratic Nation Convention ended.
Most of the companies statewide did not provide a specific reason for the layoffs. Those that did mainly cited restructuring as driving their staff cuts.
The nature of these layoffs varied, with standard layoffs impacting 726 workers while business closures accounted for an additional 443 of the job cuts.
Breaking down the layoffs by region, the Chicago collar counties bore the brunt with 503 layoffs. Northern Illinois, excluding Cook County and the collar counties also saw 419 job cuts.
Illinois employers are mandated to file monthly mass layoff reports under the WARN Act. While the reports serve as a gauge for job trends, they are not a perfect indicator of broader economic health.
Illinois’ unemployment rate for July tied for the 2nd-worst in the U.S., jumping to 5.2%, according to recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This translates to 341,630 Illinoisans looking for work.
Illinois ranked 37th in the nation for business tax climate, down eight spots from 2018 ranks, according to the Tax Foundation’s 2024 State Business Tax Climate report.
Illinois state leaders could do a lot to make Illinois more attractive to businesses and workers. Some good places to begin would be lowering Illinois’ No. 2 in the nation average property tax rate, lowering the nation’s second-highest corporate income taxes and the 8.65% maximum unemployment insurance tax rate.