True Value bankruptcy creates half of 1,790 Illinois layoffs

Nearly half of the Illinois job losses in October resulted from True Value Co. declaring bankruptcy. Chicago led the state for jobs lost.

Illinois companies announced 1,790 mass layoffs in October, with nearly of half resulting from hardware retailer True Value Co. declaring bankruptcy, according to state reports.

True Value sent 873 workers home during October from facilities in Chicago, Harvard and Cary, Illinois.

The highest concentration of Illinois’ October job losses – 667 of the 1,790 layoffs – hit Chicago after four companies announced they would be reducing their presence.

Current business closures impacted 416 workers and possible closures affected another 873. Standard layoffs accounted for 246 job cuts.

Cook County saw 667 layoffs and another 416 job losses occurred in the collar counties. This excludes an additional 255 layoffs announced by Walgreens across Cook County, Lake County and Vermillion County.

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 numbers showed 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.