How many job openings are there in Illinois?
Updates published monthly
About 296,000, as of May 2025. The number of job openings decreased by 47,000 from May 2024. A “job opening” is defined as a position open on the last business day of the month. To be considered “open,” a job must meet three conditions: (1) There’s work available for the position; (2) The job could start within 30 days; and (3) The employer is actively recruiting.
296K
job openings in Illinois (May 2025)
47K
fewer unfilled jobs in Illinois in May 2025 than in May 2024
The number of job openings is one measure of employer demand for workers and is a commonly referred-to economic indicator. An increase in the number of job openings often indicates the economy is growing, while a decline may indicate slowed growth.
The number of job openings in Illinois has declined over the last year.
Monthly job openings (seasonally adjusted) in Illinois, December 2000–May 2025
Following the Great Recession, monthly job openings in Illinois increased from 98,000 in January 2010 to 261,000 in February 2020. By April 2020, job openings had dropped to 151,000. Job openings in Illinois then reached all-time highs during recovery from the COVID-19 recession. In May 2025, there were 296,000 job openings, down 13.7% from one year prior.
The job openings rate is another way to consider this data. It tells us what percentage of all jobs, filled and unfilled, were open during a given time period. This allows for better comparisons across time, industries, and places by adjusting for differences in the size of the working population.
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A similar share of jobs were open in Illinois than in the US overall in May.
Job openings rate (seasonally adjusted), May 2025
In May 2025, 4.6% of all jobs in Illinois were unfilled. This was similar to the job openings rate US-wide.
Job openings also differ across states and regions for many reasons, including differing economies and dominating industries. Illinois’s May job openings rate was lower than 28 states.
In May 2025, Illinois's job openings rate was lower than 28 states.
Seasonally adjusted job openings rate by state, May 2025
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Methodology
USAFacts standardizes data, in areas such as time and demographics, to make it easier to understand and compare.
The analysis was generated with the help of AI and reviewed by USAFacts for accuracy.
