CHICAGO | Economic & Business Development

[the urban politician]

Declining population, declining jobless rate. That can only mean 1 thing: the people without jobs are leaving.

Yes I know, oversimplification. But I like believing that

[Justin_Chicago]

Origin raises $80 million follow-up fund

One of Chicago's biggest venture funds raised $80 million for its fourth fund.

Origin Ventures, best known as an early backer of Grubhub, raised about twice as much its last fund, in 2013.

The new fund will allow Origin to make bigger investments. It focuses on Series A rounds, or the first institutional investments in startups. Origin specializes in tech companies in software, digital marketplaces and content.

Origin is one of several local venture firms that have reloaded recently, including OCA Ventures ($73 million), Chicago Ventures ($66 million), Hyde Park Venture Partners ($65 million) and Corazon Capital ($37 million.)

Origin already has made five investments out of the new fund, including a $7.5 million round for Tock, a restaurant-software firm run by Alinea partner Nick Kokonas and former Google software engineer Brian Fitzpatrick.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...follow-up-fund

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Not exactly city or metro, but since Chicago is such a large portion of Illinois I think it's valid. The state unemployment rate dipped the most of any state from February to March - decreasing 0.5%. It's now 4.9% unemployment rate which is tied with California and slightly lower than Texas (5%). If you compare against March 2016, then Illinois is tied for 2nd highest decrease of any state, which is 1.2% lower.

Not terribly long ago, Illinois had one of the 3 worst (highest) unemployment rates. Right now it's tied for 36th highest (counting Puerto Rico) with California, North Carolina, and West Virginia. There's also 4 states that are at 4.8% and 1 at 4.7%.

For some reason I can't get to the database portion of the BLS right now, but kind of interesting to me at least. Will be curious about the city and metro area numbers, which I think are set to be released next week.


And now, in city job news:
Yagan moves ShopRunner's Silicon Valley ops to Chicago
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...eam-to-chicago

Yeah, it's amazing. According to BLS, Chicago metro unemployment is now 4.2% as of March 2017. Employment up about 25,000 from February and unemployed down about 33,000 for a very small decrease in the labor pool. And a new record for non farm payrolls in March, which is really important.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Yeah, it's amazing. According to BLS, Chicago metro unemployment is now 4.2% as of March 2017. Employment up about 25,000 from February and unemployed down about 33,000 for a very small decrease in the labor pool. And a new record for non farm payrolls in March, which is really important.

I can't get to the data (I'm in China..might have something to do with it)... So you're telling me that it dropped 1.1% from one month to the next? It was at 5.3% in February.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

I can't get to the data (I'm in China..might have something to do with it)... So you're telling me that it dropped 1.1% from one month to the next? It was at 5.3% in February.

Unemployment was 5.1% in 2/17 and 4.2% in 3/17. They may have revised February down.

[MayorOfChicago]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Unemployment was 5.1% in 2/17 and 4.2% in 3/17. They may have revised February down.

what link are you using for this data? I can only see that metro areas come out in the next few weeks for March.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by MayorOfChicago

what link are you using for this data? I can only see that metro areas come out in the next few weeks for March.

Here you go

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/il_chicago_md.htm

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by MayorOfChicago

what link are you using for this data? I can only see that metro areas come out in the next few weeks for March.

There's always preliminary numbers released before. They usually don't change and if they do it's usually just 0.1% or 0.2%.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Here you go

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/il_chicago_md.htm

Hm, that's the metro division which is a subset (albeit a very large one) of the msa. It doesn't look like it's counting Elgin, WI, or Indiana portions. Looks like those numbers aren't out yet. Needless to say, it looks like even with those the unemployment rate will have dropped a lot again.

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by CastleScott

Hey Chicago guys-got a question, did Metra move their maintenance car/locamotive yard form that area just south of Union Station (I understand that area will need a clean up before development will go forward) to somewhere else? On my travels to Chicago the Amtrak trains I usually take (the California Zephyr and sometimes the Southwest Chief) go right by there and after watching youtube videos of trains leaving Union Station and traveling south I noticed that Metra facility looks abandoned. Thanks

Nope, still active. There are more trains entering the city than leaving the city in the morning (and vice versa in the afternoon) so Metra needs that yard for midday storage on the BNSF, SWS, and HC lines.

It may be the case that more-intensive maintenance activity has shifted to more spacious yards in the suburbs.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Hm, that's the metro division which is a subset (albeit a very large one) of the msa. It doesn't look like it's counting Elgin, WI, or Indiana portions. Looks like those numbers aren't out yet. Needless to say, it looks like even with those the unemployment rate will have dropped a lot again.

Yeah, but it's a good indication of what the entire metro will show. And it's the most important part by far.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

Yeah, but it's a good indication of what the entire metro will show. And it's the most important part by far.

Agreed. Judging by the past numbers, it looks as if the rate will only be 0.1% or 0.2% higher than that which is still a nice decrease from the previous month

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Agreed. Judging by the past numbers, it looks as if the rate will only be 0.1% or 0.2% higher than that which is still a nice decrease from the previous month

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/il_chicago_msa.htm

4.5% for entire metro in March.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

https://www.bls.gov/regions/midwest/il_chicago_msa.htm

4.5% for entire metro in March.

Nice. It's come down a lot and it's now not much higher than the NYC and LA areas, and about the same as the Dallas area and lower than Houston. What's the rate of the city?

[Justin_Chicago]

Allstate doubles space at Merchandise Mart

Allstate is more than doubling its offices in the Merchandise Mart that opened last year, a deal that could bring hundreds of jobs to the River North building.

The insurer has signed a lease for 57,000 square feet in the Mart, bringing its total space there to 102,000 square feet, David Greenbaum, president of Vornado Realty Trust, the building's owner, told analysts in a conference call yesterday, according to a transcript.

Last year, Allstate opened an innovation center in 45,000 square feet on the eighth floor of the Mart, with plans to employ 400 technology workers there. Based on the company's new lease, it's possible the insurer would add at least that many jobs at the Mart.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/reale...os-river-north


Moderne Ventures raises $33 million

Moderne Ventures, one of Chicago's only women-run venture capital firms, closed its first fund at $33 million.

The fund, launched by Constance Freedman, invests in real estate, finance, insurance and home services markets. Freedman previously ran a venture fund and accelerator for the Chicago-based National Association of Realtors.

Moderne has made four investments so far, including Chicago-based UrbanBound, a web-based platform for relocations. Deals range from $200,000 seed investments to Series B rounds up to about $3 million.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ses-33-million


Big names sink $4 million into health care software startup


PreparedHealth, a Chicago startup that's using social media and Big Data to help patients recover more quickly and stay out of the hospital, has attracted $4 million from several well-known investors.

Chicago Ventures led the deal, which also included local funds Pritzker Group Venture Capital; Beverly Capital, a firm led by former GTCR partner Joe Nolan; and Indianapolis-based Meridian Street Capital.

PreparedHealth's product, an app called enTouch, connects various care providers involved in treating a patient, allowing them to share information in the same way they might on Facebook. It showed surprising results, cutting readmission rates by half when it was tested at a home health care facility run by Bayada Home Health Care, a New Jersey-based company.

The company has grown to 13 employees, including nine in Chicago. In addition to its original product, PreparedHealth also created a mobile assistant, a sort of Siri for caregivers, which uses data to help predict if a patient's health is changing and requires intervention.

Article: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ftware-startup

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by marothisu

Nice. It's come down a lot and it's now not much higher than the NYC and LA areas, and about the same as the Dallas area and lower than Houston. What's the rate of the city?

According to IDES, the City of Chicago had a 4.5% unemployment rate in March.

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by Vlajos

According to IDES, the City of Chicago had a 4.5% unemployment rate in March.

That's what the BLS has too. The rate for Chicago is now lower than Los Angeles and Houston (by a bit...rising for them). It's the same as Dallas now, and not much higher than NYC. The rate has dropped a whopping 1.7% from January and 2.3% compared to March 2016.

The number of people in the labor market continues to stay around the same meaning most likely many people who didn't have jobs are leaving, and being replaced by people with jobs. So the question is...when does the equilibrium tip in favor of the overall population growing decently again? Looks like within the next year or two..

[the urban politician]

Originally Posted by marothisu

That's what the BLS has too. The rate for Chicago is now lower than Los Angeles and Houston (by a bit...rising for them). It's the same as Dallas now, and not much higher than NYC. The rate has dropped a whopping 1.7% from January and 2.3% compared to March 2016.

The number of people in the labor market continues to stay around the same meaning most likely many people who didn't have jobs are leaving, and being replaced by people with jobs. So the question is...when does the equilibrium tip in favor of the overall population growing decently again? Looks like within the next year or two..

But on paper people are going to keep stating that Chicago is "losing people so its in horrible shape" without being aware of these deeper patterns. It's too bad

[marothisu]

Originally Posted by the urban politician

But on paper people are going to keep stating that Chicago is "losing people so its in horrible shape" without being aware of these deeper patterns. It's too bad

Right, which is why this stuff needs to get in the news. I've gotten a few things oUT there but needs to be more. That narrative will play out.

Also, the city lost some people in the last few years but it's still gained people since 2010. The narrative is pretty obvious if you look at income, education, etc numbers. I think if the trend continues, then we'll see a little more growth and overall better than expected growth at the 2020 census

[bnk]

Is this just national consolidation business news or part of the Chicagoland Black exodus?




http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/rep...o-los-angeles/

Reports: Ebony magazine sheds staff, moving HQ to Los Angeles



Business 05/06/2017, 06:52pm



Ebony magazine is laying off staff and merging its main operations in Los Angeles, though it will maintain a Chicago office.


Chicago-based Ebony Magazine is losing about a third of its editorial staff and moving its primary editorial operations to Los Angeles, according to media reports.

The magazine will join longtime sister publication Jet under that magazine’s L.A.-based editor, Tracey Ferguson, the Chicago Tribune is reporting.

The longtime parent company of both magazines, Chicago’s Johnson Publishing Co., sold the titles last year to a Clear View Group, a Texas-based private equity firm. Ebony and Jet have chronicled African-American life for the past 71 years.

Ebony Media, as the parent company now is known, will keep an office in Chicago. Linda Johnson Rice, Ebony Media CEO, will stay in that job, and will remain based in the downsized Chicago office, according to the Tribune.

Crain’s Chicago Business reported that the magazines dismissed “nearly all their local employees.”

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