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Old 12-28-2009, 11:36 AM
 
6 posts, read 10,166 times
Reputation: 10

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Greetings,

My wife and I are currently residing in Pittsbburgh, PA, but thinking about moving to a larger city, and Chicago is one of the options we're looking into.

I've searched forums here and couldn't find a lot of information on the current state of the job market in Chicago area.

Could you give me some idea on the job market in Chicago/Chicagoland (we have a child and will probably move into the suburbs) or maybe point me in the direction where I can start my research? I'm in IT consulting, and my wife is in biology.

Thanks in advance.
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Old 12-28-2009, 01:30 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,033,597 times
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Some of the employment surveys that I have seen suggest that Pittsburgh is better for the mid-term than Chicago for many fields. The Pittsburgh region has a lower cost of living and probably a less "pressurized" mix of employment options -- many of Chicago's traditional employers in IT include the larger financial firms that have been under heavy pressure due to financial melt down / bail out. In the broad "biology" field Chicago's suburbs are home to some prominent pharm / medical products companies that have been under pressure as contributing to costs of medical options...

I gather that some of the same concerns weigh on Pittsburgh area firms (and I believe there are even some similar firms especially in pharm...) but the more compact area, lower living costs and better cooperation that allegedly exists between folks that helped Pittsburgh overcome it single industry past (including the Carnegie Mellon and University of Pittsburgh) give your area some advantages...
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Old 12-28-2009, 06:31 PM
 
6 posts, read 10,166 times
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Thank you for your reply.

From what you're saying it looks like a lot of Chicago companies are in finance, so a lot of them were affected by the crash. I know that NYC IT employment situation is actually not that bad, do you know what might have caused different outcome there?

I agree 100% on the cost of living thing...
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Old 12-28-2009, 09:19 PM
 
28,455 posts, read 85,033,597 times
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Both the scale of the IT employment in NYC and the relative focus of how that employment fits into the different business functions of the financial firms is dramatically different than in Chicago -- basically only a handful of Chicago firms (like Citadel) are "technology driven" AND large enough to need a sizeable internal organization. Many of the firms with a presence in Chicago can get by with a tiny staff locally, and rely on offices in other parts of the country / world.
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Old 12-29-2009, 12:18 PM
 
Location: Chicago
2,884 posts, read 4,963,060 times
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I just saw this: Metros where employment is growing : The Work Buzz It shows the metro areas that showed job growth the last quarter. There's also a map of how the 100 largest metro areas are doing compared to peak employment. Chicago is 66th (higher # is worse). It shows a 5.4% job loss since the peak.
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Old 12-29-2009, 12:33 PM
 
Location: Chicago
15,585 posts, read 27,472,350 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by knitgirl View Post
I just saw this: Metros where employment is growing : The Work Buzz It shows the metro areas that showed job growth the last quarter. There's also a map of how the 100 largest metro areas are doing compared to peak employment. Chicago is 66th (higher # is worse). It shows a 5.4% job loss since the peak.
And Pittsburgh is 25th.
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Old 12-30-2009, 07:12 PM
 
6 posts, read 10,166 times
Reputation: 10
ok, let me be a bit more specific. Anybody recently been looking for IT position (app/DB development, senior level, temp/perm) in Chicago/West suburbs? Did you find positions difficult to find, how many candidates, etc etc...

Thanks in advance!

Last edited by dmoran; 12-30-2009 at 07:15 PM.. Reason: typo
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Old 12-30-2009, 08:24 PM
 
Location: Brookfield, Illinois
288 posts, read 849,373 times
Reputation: 127
I know someone who is a biologist for engineering firm Burns & McDonnell in Downers Grove, which is in the western suburbs, and where there are also a lot of IT companies. In fact, Burns has a job opening for a biologist right now:
Career Opportunities
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