As the nation and most industries continue to weather the current economic recession, more Illinois construction jobs are being lost.

The State of Illinois‘ construction industry lost 13,400 jobs during December 2008. During the last four months, the construction industry has decreased by 28,300 Illinois jobs, more than 10 percent of the industry’s total workforce. The trade and transportation industry also saw a big decrease, losing 8,600 jobs during December, while the manufacturing industry lost 5,200 jobs.

Throughout the state, payroll employment decreased by 36,000 jobs during December, the seventh consecutive month Illinois has lost jobs. During November and December, Illinois lost a total of 73,600 jobs, the largest two-month decrease since 1990. There were a total of 505,300 unemployed people during December, higher than the 500,000 in February 1992.

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In part because of the slumping economy, Illinois manufacturing jobs have seen a decrease during the past year.

According to the 2009 Illinois Manufacturers Directory, Illinois’ manufacturing decreased by 2.1 percent during the past 12 months. From November 2007 to November 2008 the state lost 19,924 industrial jobs. The Directory is a compilation of state industry published each year by Manufacturers’ News Inc., an Evanston, Ill.-based company that has been surveying industry since 1912.

The State of Illinois is home to 20,788 manufacturers that employ 906,006 workers, according to an article by Reliable Plant, making the state fourth in the nation for number of manufacturing jobs.

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Among an economy that’s constantly shedding jobs, the creation of a coal plant could help create more Illinois construction jobs.

The Taylorville Energy Center, which would be located in Taylorsville, Ill., could create as many as 1,500 construction jobs and other mining and power plant jobs, as well as help decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who has since been impeached, created the framework for the the plant and other projects. However, the project needs final approval from the General Assembly, according to an article by Smart Brief.

When compared to last year, the construction industry in Illinois lost more jobs than any other industry in the state during November 2008. The construction industry employed 249,300 workers during November, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 254,400 workers during October and a 7.6 percent decrease from last year.

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Several workers with Illinois careers will soon face their fate as Illinois companies are planning to cut more than 7,000 jobs.

During December, 23 companies filed layoff notices with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity under the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act, which requires companies with at least 75 workers to publicly disclose any job cuts exceeding on-third of their staff or more than 250 workers.

According to an article by Chicago Business, the state’s December WARN figures were about six times the total number of job losses during November. Illinois only saw WARN documents for 1,700 jobs during December of last year.

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