The unemployment rate in Naperville is significantly lower than the country or the state, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.



According to the Illinois Workforce Information Center, unemployment in the country rose from November to December at a rate of 6.8 to 7.2 percent, while the Illinois rate grew from 7.3 to 7.6 percent.

Unemployment in Naperville ranged from a low of 3.5 percent in March of last year, to a high of 5.9 in July. Rates fell to 4.9 percent in October and again in November and December, remaining at 4.7 percent.

"The most accurate comparison is to look at the same month between years, and the data shows there was 3.2 percent unemployment in December of 2007, and this past year, it was up to 4.7 percent," said Greg Rivara, communications manager and spokesman for the IDES.

Rivara said that historically, Naperville's jobless rate remains lower than state or federal levels because of its demographics and that the city's workforce is not generated in the highest concentrations of unemployment.

"Construction, transportation and manufacturing have been the hardest hit in terms of unemployment, and these are not the areas that characterize Naperville," Rivara said. "People in Naperville tend to be higher educated and have more disposable income than other areas in the state or country, and given the jobs they have, it stands to reason their unemployment would be lower."

Local business officials such as Patrick Skarr, vice president of advocacy for the Naperville Chamber of Commerce, remain convinced that Naperville is poised to withstand economic pressures, both now and in the future.

"Jobs lost are jobs lost, but one of the reasons we are doing better than the state or national averages is because of the diversification we have here in the city," Skarr said. Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership, said the various revenue streams generated locally also will help sustain the local economy, as well as the city's plan to reinvent itself from an employment perspective during the past eight years.

"Naperville was once all about telephone technology, and that changed around the year 2000 following the 'dot-com tech wreck,' when our workforce began to change," Jeffries said. "We certainly aren't recession-proof, but the fact we have revenue streams from sales, property, utility, retail taxes and more means we're not just dependent on one source of revenue and have remained creatively sustainable."

Skarr credits the Naperville City Council for passing incentives, including a tax rebate program and a natural gas-use tax last summer, which helped local employers such as Kraft and Phoenix Closures lower "the cost of doing business." That policy, in turn, has helped save jobs.

"The electricity rebate and the natural gas-use tax are two elements that have saved companies money and kept 'the cost of doing business' down, producing a work environment where local companies can compete," Skarr said.