Employment Numbers

     The Illinois Department of Employment Security released monthly employment numbers for Illinois municipalities, counties, and metropolitan districts for May 2026. May data for Metro and Local area data were released on Friday, June 26. The unemployment rate for Elgin went down from the previous months. Elgin employment numbers are stable, and the local economy continues to show resilience.

     The table below shows the number of people in Elgin’s labor force, the number of people that are employed and the number of people that are unemployed in the same months of 2025 and 2026. Elgin’s work force has been decreasing in the last several months. The percentage of Elginites that are unemployed in Cook Count went down from 6.6% to 5.4% with only 692 people that are unemployed. The percentage of people in Kane County that are unemployed went down from 5.3% to 4.7% with 2,129 people that are unemployed. The number of people unemployed in both Cook and Kane County Elgin went from 3,296 to 2,821 people for a decrease of 475 people over the past month.