IL employers are struggling to hire. Why the state ranked in top 10 for unfilled openings
Illinois was recently named one of the top 10 states in the U.S. where employers are having a difficult time filling job openings.
In WalletHub’s June 29 ranking of States Where Employers Are Struggling the Most in Hiring, Illinois ranked 8th for its job opening rates in the past 12 months and the most recent month.
The firm weighed the most recent month (April 2022, per Wallethub) twice as heavily as the total past 12 month job openings metric, and the ranking cited U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
Although Illinois’ non-tipped minimum wage is currently at $12 and will jump to $15 by 2025, it still doesn’t reach MIT’s calculation of a living wage. The living wage for one person with no children living in Illinois is $18.16 an hour, according to MIT.
The tipped minimum wage in the state is $7.20 until Jan. 1, 2023.
The minimum wage differs in some parts of the state, such as Cook County.
U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics data for May 2022 put Illinois’ unemployment rate at 4.6%, while the nation’s rate is 3.6%.
Information about job openings in Belleville is available from this public Facebook group with more than 6,000 members.
An associate professor at Eastern Michigan University’s College of Business, Anushri Rawat, said in the article competitive wages, autonomy, flexible work arrangements and growth opportunities are all factors influencing whether an employer will be successful in filling positions.
“The turnover rates went haywire after the pandemic hit, and it fundamentally altered the nature of the job market,” Rawat said in WalletHub’s story. “And the turnover intentions of workers could only get higher due to a confluence of factors: Government stimulus, lockdowns, health and safety concerns, childcare burden, stress, and burnout leading to intentions of a career change, etc.”
An assistant professor of human relations at Pennsylvania State University told WalletHub she believed conditions may improve for employers later in the year.
“I am optimistic. I believe that the current turbulence will lead to a better ‘balance’ in the labor market, but it will take some time. The reprioritization of values and needs, hopefully, will lead to employees not making compromises and employers adjusting their policies and practices to better fit the evolving needs of their employees,” Dorothea Roumpi said to WalletHub.
Here’s the top 25 state where employers are struggling to hire, via WalletHub:
Alaska
Kentucky
Georgia
Montana
Iowa
West Virginia
South Carolina
Illinois
Minnesota
Vermont
Wisconsin
North Carolina
North Dakota
Michigan
Massachusetts
South Dakota
Tennessee
Hawaii
Rhode Island
Indiana
Virginia
Alabama
New Mexico
Louisiana
Maryland
Here’s how the nation as a whole did:
This story was originally published July 5, 2022 at 10:57 AM.
