Chicago Tech Job Market Report: July 2026

Chicago's information-sector employment, the closest available proxy for tech-sector jobs, dropped to 76,151 in July, down 926 from June and down 856 from a year earlier. At the same time, the metro's professional and business services sector kept expanding, up 2,171 jobs month over month and 1,668 over the year, so this isn't a market that's uniformly weak. It's one where the tech-labeled slice is contracting while adjacent services work keeps growing.

The national picture

US job openings came in at 7.36 million in June, down 178,000 from the prior month but still 155,000 above year-ago levels. The quits rate held at 2.0%, unchanged month over month and down 0.1 percentage point from a year ago — workers are staying put rather than testing the market. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, off 0.1 point on the month and 0.2 point on the year, while total nonfarm employment reached 158.86 million, down a modest 23,000 from June but up 316,000 from July of last year. Put together: hiring demand is softening at the margins, but the overall labor market hasn't turned over. A low quits rate paired with still-elevated openings suggests employers have jobs to fill but workers aren't confident enough to chase them.

Chicago metro

Chicago's unemployment rate rose to 5.3% in June, up 0.4 point from May and 0.6 point from a year ago. This series isn't seasonally adjusted, so part of that jump reflects the usual summer pattern rather than a sudden weakening. Total nonfarm employment in the metro sat at 4.75 million, down 2,900 on the month but up just 600 over the full year — effectively flat growth. The information sector, used here as a stand-in for tech because a dedicated tech series isn't available at this geography, fell to 76,151 jobs, its second straight monthly decline and now below where it stood a year ago. Meanwhile professional and business services climbed to 806,267 jobs, adding both month over month and year over year. That sector includes a lot of consulting, staffing, and IT-services work that doesn't show up under the information-sector label but still touches tech hiring.

What this means if you're hiring

Sourcing for narrowly-defined tech roles in Chicago should be somewhat easier than a year ago: the information-sector headcount has been shrinking for two straight months, which usually means more candidates on the market relative to open positions. But don't read that as a green light to lowball offers across the board — professional and business services, where a lot of contract and consulting tech talent actually sits, is still adding jobs, and candidates with a foot in that broader category have more competing options than the headline information-sector numbers suggest. Nationally, openings are down 178,000 from last month, so budget approvals may be slower to land, even though the year-over-year comparison is still positive.

What this means if you're looking

The national quits rate sitting flat at 2.0% tells you most employed people aren't jumping without a strong reason, which raises the bar on what a competing offer needs to look like to pull someone out of a current role. Locally, the information-sector job count losing 856 positions over the past year means candidates targeting tech-titled roles specifically may see thinner postings and slower callbacks than colleagues aiming at broader professional-services openings, where headcount grew by 1,668 over the same period. The metro unemployment rate's rise to 5.3% looks alarming at first glance, but given it's not seasonally adjusted, treat it as a rough signal rather than proof that conditions have sharply worsened. If your search stalls in the information sector, professional and business services is where the actual job growth in Chicago is currently concentrated.