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, and freight demand. 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 15,540 jobs, a 1.3 percent year-over-year improvement since October 2014. The majority of this growth can be attributed to the professional and business services (+8,655 jobs) and education and health services (+7,935) sectors. The manufacturing sector experienced the greatest absolute decrease in jobs (-2,311).
• The unemployment rate in Chicago (city) decreased year-over-year. The city’s October 2015 unemployment rate of 5.6% is 1.2 percentage points lower than the rate of 6.8% in October 2014.
• Municipal sales tax receipts in Chicago (city) increased from $69.49 (M) in Q3-2014 to $73.71 (M) in Q3-2015, an increase of 6.1%.
• Air cargo volume for O’Hare and Midway Airports grew by 2,556 tons in October 2015; a 1.7% year-over-year change since October 2014.

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