ILLINOIS (IRN) – Illinois is making gains in employment: 117,000 jobs gained since the recovery started in 2010, says Jay Rowell, director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

But there have been ups and downs in those numbers: Some months have shown large gains, while others have shown losses, and there might be a slowdown this summer, especially if Europe is economically unstable.

“We endured a similar soft patch in May and June and July of last year, for almost exactly the same reasons,” he said. “So knowing this, many private-sector economists are predicting that Illinois’ economy will grow at about a 2.5 percent rate, on average, for the next few years.”

The number of available positions posted on-line is now 179,270, equal to the pre-recession peak.

Since the recovery began, Illinois has added 140,700 corporate-sector jobs, while losing 23,500 in the government sector.

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