Nearly 9 in 10 layoffs in November from businesses closing

Nearly 9 in 10 of the Illinois job losses announced in November resulted from businesses closing. Chicago led the state for layoffs, followed by Rockford.

Illinois companies announced 1,176 mass layoffs in November, with nearly 9 in 10 job cuts resulting from businesses closing, according to state reports.

The highest concentration of Illinois’ November job losses – 361 of the 1,176 layoffs – hit Chicago after four  companies announced they would be reducing their presence.

Rockford followed closely with the second-highest number of layoffs after the closure of the city’s oldest manufacturer led to 327 job cuts.

Current business closures impacted 1,028 workers and standard layoffs accounted for the remaining 148 job cuts. The state data shows all these layoffs will be permanent.

Cook County saw 510 layoffs and another 157 job losses were in the collar counties. This excludes an additional 125 layoffs announced by Advanced Auto Parts across Cook and DuPage counties.

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.

October job reports showed roughly 346,000 Illinoisans seeking work. That unemployment rate of 5.3% was the third highest in the nation.

Illinois ranked 37th in the nation for business tax climate, down eight spots from the 2018 ranking, 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.