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. 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 7,555 jobs since March 2013, mostly attributed to education and health services (+6,232), professional and business services (+3,635) and transportation and utilities (+1,396) sectors.
• The Chicago Business Barometer improved by 14 points over last year, from 49.0 in April 2013 to 63.0 in April 2014.
• The median home sale price in Chicago was $237,000 in March 2014, a 26.7% increase since March 2013.
• Passenger volume for O’Hare and Midway Airports grew by 337,815 people, a 4.7% YOY change since March 2013.

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