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Regional Economic Outlook
Chicago-Cook County offers excellent location and transportation convenience to distribution and material handing businesses. Chicago-Cook County has the nation’s best transportation infrastructure to move goods via interstate highway, rail, air and waterways .
With the opening of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in the 1800s, Chicago boomed as a transportation hub and has maintained its preeminent position ever since. Expanding the transportation network, Chicago’s Midway Airport was the world’s busiest in the 1940s. As air travel increased, Chicago built O’Hare International Airport, now the world’s busiest airport. The Hub Group , the nation’s largest shipping agent, leads the region’s strong transportation services sector.
The Chicago region has a strong, diverse economy. Prominent sectors include manufacturing, distribution, steel fabrication, food processing, finance, and tourism and conventions. Industrial giants such as Motorola, Caterpillar, Amoco, Abbott Labs, Baxter International, Stone Container , and Navistar are headquartered here. More than 800 million square feet of industrial facilities are in the region. United Parcel Service ‘s new package sorting center is the largest in the world and employs 5000 in southwest suburban Hodgkins. The region supported 18.72 million square feet of industrial new construction in 1996.|
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Transportation Resources
Air
O’Hare International Airport and Midway Airport in Chicago provide business with the nation’s best access to national and international air routes. More than 140 domestic and 30 international non-stop destinations are available. O’Hare ranks number one in the world in passenger, third in domestic and fifth in international cargo volume, moving 1.4 million tons of freight in 1996. O’Hare’s Cargo City covers 240 acres and offers 1.2 million square feet of facilities. An additional 50-acre site, O’Hare Express, will have direct access to airline ramp facilities to eliminate double handling of cargo. Midway handled 29,700 tons of freight in 1996, with one third of the volume bound for other midwestern cities such as Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis. Warehousing and industrial areas surrounding both airports experienced strong growth in 1996. Chicago has started work on $778 million in improvements and expansion at Midway.|
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Highway
The Chicago-Cook County location offers excellent access to North America’s interstate highways. Major east-west routes include I-90/94 and I-80. Major north-south routes include I-55, I-57 and I-65. Illinois has 1,700 miles of interstate highways.|
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Rail
The Chicago-Cook County region has the nation’s largest rail hub, with 14 freight lines and 11 trunk rail lines. The area handles twice as many intermodal trains, served by 21 intermodal facilities and 19 container depots, as its nearest competitor, Los Angeles. Rail traffic between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico is booming, helped by NAFTA and a $200 million tunnel expansion between the U.S. and Canada at Port Huron, Michigan. Much of the increased traffic passes through Chicago-Cook County. Recent intermodal expansions include Canadian National’s 67-acre yard in Harvey and Santa Fe’s yard in Hodgkins.|
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Water
The Port of Chicago is unique among Great Lakes ports because it allows the transfer of ocean and lake vessel shipments to and from barges, with the huge Illinois-Mississippi River System acting as a year-round extension of the Seaway System. The port also provides rail and interstate highway access. Foreign Trade Zone 22 is in the Port. Companies such as Ford Motor Company, LTV Steel, Acme Steel and Cargill use the Port. In 1996, steel related cargo volume alone totaled 28 million tons to the Port of Chicago and the nearby Port of East Chicago.|
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Workforce
Employers in the Chicago-Cook County region have access to a seasoned workforce at affordable wages. Public transportation offers workers convenient and affordable commuting options.|
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EMPLOYMENT WAGES in the Material Handling Industry
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Job Title |
Entry Hourly Wage |
Median Hourly Wage |
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Manager, Distribution/Warehouse |
$15.55 |
$17.80 |
Supervisor, Shipping & Receiving |
11.74 |
$14.74 |
Office Manager |
$11.25 |
$14.42 |
Billing Clerk |
$9.59 |
$8.00 |
Clerk, Shipping & Receiving |
$7.30 |
$10.21 |
Dispatcher, Motor Vehicle |
** |
$11.51 |
Mechanic, Fork Lift |
** |
$8.50 |
Driver, Heavy Truck |
$10.00 |
$13.20 |
Driver, Truck Tractor/Trailer |
$12.25 |
$16.56 |
Fork Lift Operator |
$7.57 |
$11.24 |
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**insufficient survey response
SOURCE: Illinois Department of Employment Security, 1996, Cook, DuPage, McHenry counties
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EMPLOYMENT in Cook County
Total Employment* |
2,224,024 |
Employment in Selected Industries* |
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Manufacturing |
432,274 |
Trucking & Warehousing |
45,494 |
Air Transport |
41,661 |
Transportation Services |
14,817 |
Wholesale Trade |
168,590 |
*Private firms with 20+ employees
SOURCE: Illinois Department of Employment Security, 1995 |
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INDUSTRIAL MARKET
Available Space in Chicago-Cook County (sq. ft.) |
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Total Chicago-Cook County |
38,458,584 |
Chicago North |
8,604,987 |
Chicago South |
9,381,243 |
North Suburban |
2,044,750 |
Northwest Suburban |
7,843,323 |
West Suburban |
5,487,753 |
South Suburban |
5,096,528 |
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