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, number of patents, price and purchasing indexes, and freight demand.

Key trends include:

• The Chicago (city) economy has expanded by an estimated 510 jobs year-over-year since March 2017. The largest gains were in the Wholesale Trade (+3,214), Educational & Health Services (+2,968), and Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities (+2,855) sectors.
• The City of Chicago’s unemployment rate decreased from 5.0 in March 2017 to 4.5 in March 2018.
• Air Cargo Tonnage increased by 2.5% from 173,907 tons in March 2017 to 178,228 tons in March 2018.
• Patents issued in the City of Chicago increased YOY to 156 in March 2018.

These and other trends are illustrated in this month’s Chicago by the Numbers.