The gap between what Illinois employers need and what its education system is built to deliver

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Illinois’ headline workforce numbers tell a discouraging story: job growth of 0.6% between 2019 and 2024, well below the national rate of 4.4%, combined with population projections showing a potential loss of 75,000 residents over the next five years. Taken at face value, the data points toward stagnation.

But headline numbers mask what is actually happening.

A sector-level reading of the data tells a different story—one of a workforce actively reorganizing. Healthcare is expanding, growing 7% since 2019 and supporting nearly 900,000 jobs statewide. Logistics is growing, up 9% over the same period. Employers across industries are posting jobs in marketing and project management at rates 22% and 15% above national averages. And mentions of AI-related skills in job postings surged 974% between 2023 and 2025 alone—a pace of change that outstripped even what we observed in New York.

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