Employment Roundup

Today the News-Gazette had rankings of the area's top 15 employers with information about how the number of jobs they provide has shifted recently. Here are some excerpts and highlights:

Champaign County | Hire Education
While the list of top local employers includes each of the same companies as last year, there were some significant changes in where they were ranked. FedEx is the fastest-growing company on the list, Carle continues to grow at a steady clip, and Kraft Heinz is slowly shrinking. Each spring, the Champaign County Economic Development Corp. compiles the list, which is based on numbers self-reported by the companies. Here’s a look, courtesy business reporter Ben Zigterman:

1. University of Illinois ( 13,934)

After reporting fewer jobs last year, the Urbana campus reported 77 more employees this year as the state budget stabilized...

2. Carle ( 6,921)

Carle grew by more than 8 percent last year, adding 535 new jobs...

3. Champaign Unit 4 school district ( 1,664)

4. Kraft Heinz (925)

The fourth-largest employer lost about 100 jobs for the second year in a row...

5. Christie Clinic (916) 6. Champaign County (893) 7. Urbana school District 116 (828)...

8. FedEx (815)

Two years ago, FedEx had 407 employees and was the 19th-largest employer in the county. It has since doubled, quickly climbing the top employers ranks...

9. Presence Health/OSF Healthcare (774)...

10. Parkland College (741) 11. Plastipak (735) 12. City of Champaign (630)...

13. Rantoul Foods (541)...

14. Busey Bank (525)...

15. SuperValu (429)...

Notes on the numbers: The figures show how many people each company employs in Champaign County, not across the company. Also, the EDC compiled the list of the top 15 employers in time for the annual Busey Economic Seminar, but is still working on its full list of the top 25 employers.

Full article with more ranking details here. There was also news earlier in the week that 200 jobs were in jeopardy of being moved or replaced by automation. More on that from Friday's News-Gazette:

Rockwell Automation closing its Champaign facilities in a year
More than 200 employees learned this week they may soon be out of a job after Rockwell Automation announced it will be closing its two Champaign locations.

Rockwell, which makes automated manufacturing products, plans to open a new distribution center in Indianapolis while closing its distribution center in Memphis, Tenn., and its distribution and customer-returns centers in northwest Champaign...

The Indianapolis plant will use automation to improve operations, the company said, and will be managed by Kuehne + Nagel, a global logistics company headquartered in Switzerland.

The full Rockwell article here. And while all that may seem a bit gloomy, the News-Gazette has also recently reported that "Busey Bank Vice Chairman Ed Scharlau is as optimistic as he's ever been about the state of the local economy." From Thursday:

Busey vice chairman leaves 'em upbeat in final economic seminar
...
"After reviewing so many positive figures, I hope you feel very fortunate to live and work here in Champaign County," Scharlau told a full house Wednesday at the I Hotel for the annual Busey Economic Seminar...

Yields are expected to be slightly lower this year, so Scharlau is projecting a decline in 2018 output to $350 million.

That was one of the few data points Scharlau presented that wasn't improving.

Retail sales continue to show steady growth, increasing to $2.808 billion in 2017, and are projected to grow to $2.858 billion this year.

The local population is also growing.

According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates, Champaign County added 980 people in the last year, increasing to 209,399. And since the 2010 Census, the county has added more than 8,000 people.

"We're one of the few counties in downstate Illinois that is growing, population-wise," Scharlau said.

Unemployment also remains low in the county, at 3.7 percent, down from 4.2 percent last year.

"Even though Champaign County has one of the lower unemployment rates in the state, we need to remember there are several people unemployed and underemployed and are looking for a job," Scharlau said.

The top employers also appear to be doing well, Scharlau said.

Full article with more encouraging local conditions here. And as recently posted here, unemployment in the area has been down compared to the region, State, and national statistics. That information again:

There were some recent unemployment data from the state about our metro area and county from the News-Gazette (with more information from the Illinois Department of Employment Security here) today along with a couple handy charts in the on-line version:

March unemployment: C-U's rate tied for lowest in state; Danville's is highest
The unemployment rate remains low in the Champaign-Urbana metro area.

At 3.8 percent this March, it is tied with the Bloomington for the lowest unemployment rate among Illinois' 14 metro areas, according to the latest data from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate in Danville is the highest among Illinois metro areas, at 5.8 percent.

But across the state, the unemployment rate continued to drop compared with a year ago.