A new $40 million workforce recovery grant program seeks to help job seekers get back to work, while another $4.4 million program aims to increase access to career training programs for at-risk youth, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Thursday.

As Chicago emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Lori Lightfoot told WTTW News on Monday that city officials must be “bold and transformative” to address not only the immediate damage caused by the pandemic but also the city’s longstanding woes. 

As some parents return to in-person work, many are struggling to find child care for their small children. A shortage of day care workers across Illinois means demand for services is high, leading some centers to pause enrollment.

The mandate is intended to push about two-thirds of American workers to get vaccinated, but some are claiming it's government overreach. 

Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. Federal pandemic unemployment benefits ended on Labor Day, cutting off weekly payments to more than 300,000 people in the state. 

Members of the Chicago City Council unanimously endorsed a plan Friday to extend the city’s program that earmarks a portion of city contracts for firms owned by Black, Latino and Asian Chicagoans as well as women for another six years, without expanding its scope.

Millions of jobless Americans lost their unemployment benefits on Monday, leaving only a handful of economic support programs for those who are still being hit financially by the year-and-a-half-old coronavirus pandemic.

The August job growth the government reported Friday fell far short of the sizable gains of roughly 1 million in each of the previous two months. The hiring jumps in June and July had followed widespread vaccinations that allowed the economy to fully reopen from pandemic restrictions. 

Unemployment has been a major issue throughout the pandemic. Stay-at-home orders spurred layoffs — many who lost their jobs had trouble accessing benefits — in part because there was a whole lot of fraud.

Scoops Dessert Bar is the first restaurant in Chicago to open as part of the city’s Expedited Restaurant Licensing Pilot Program, which is designed to help fill restaurants shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker may soon make the rare move of vetoing a bill that passed both houses of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly — unanimously. The bill has to do with how private ambulance companies are reimbursed when they transport Medicaid patients. 

City officials will have to move cautiously to extend the city’s program that earmarks a portion of city contracts for firms owned by Black, Latino and Asian Chicagoans as well as women in the face of hostile courts, officials warned the Chicago City Council.

A small group of Boeing engineers who perform key safety tasks are raising concerns about their ability to work free of pressure from supervisors, and their comments are prompting federal regulators to take a broader look into the company’s safety culture.

New fall programs offered by the City Colleges of Chicago system aim to help city residents start or resume their college education amid the pandemic.

The Chicago area has seen a 6.6% unemployment rate decrease, from 15.1% in June 2020 to 8.5% in June of this year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. How a new program aims to get even more job seekers employed.

How do you ask someone to give you more space in the checkout line? Or tell your boss you don’t feel comfortable returning to the office? We asked a trio of experts for advice as part of our series.