World Business Chicago tracks indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including employment in major sectors, residential and office real estate data, price and purchasing indexes, freight demand, and auto and truck sales. Note: employment data refers to payroll job estimates for the city of Chicago and is not adjusted for seasonality.

Key trends evident this month include:

The Chicago (city) economy has expanded by an estimated 12,445 private-sector jobs since September 2013, mostly attributed to professional and business services (+7,067), transportation and warehousing (+3,770), and education and health services (+2,078) sectors.

Venture capital investment in the metro area increased to $210.2M during the third quarter of 2014, a 42.2% improvement over the same time period last year.  

Residential building permits in the city increased to 4,522 units in September 2014, a 49.8% improvement compared to the same time period last year.

Passenger volume for O’Hare and Midway Airports grew by 187,537 people, a 2.5% YOY change since September 2013.

These and other trends are illustrated in this month’s Chicago By The Numbers.