(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Chicago has gone from having one of the best rates of people returning to work during the pandemic to one of the worst, according to a new report by consumer financial site WalletHub.
The report, published Oct. 28, looked at the change in each city’s unemployment during the latest month for which the site had data (September 2020) compared to September 2019 and January 2020. They also considered each city’s overall unemployment rate.
WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez said unemployment claims in Illinois have been a bit of an outlier compared with other states because of Chicago's congestion imbalance to the rest of the state.
Gonzalez said Illinois did well in terms of job recovery at the beginning of the pandemic because of agriculture and manufacturing, which are slowing down hiring.
"Of course, we think of Chicago, we think of the slow down there, where a lot of offices still remain closed," Gonzales said. "But you go outside of Chicago and you go outside of agriculture, manufacturing... those were two things that started to recover the quickest."
She says colder weather and the recent rise in infection rates in Illinois are also affecting the number of people being hired.
Only Massachusetts, Florida and Kansas have slower rates of hiring than Illinois. Making up the top employment states that bounced back are Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota and Missouri.
The report indicates that the national unemployment rate is currently at 7.9%, which is 46% lower than the peak of 14.7% during the height of the pandemic.