Post by title1parent on Sept 24, 2009 5:19:13 GMT -5
www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1787918,6_1_NA24_TOPEMPLOYERS_S1-090924.article
Where the jobs are ... and where they aren't
Hospital, school districts among top Naperville employers
September 24, 2009
By KATIE FOUTZ kfoutz@scn1.com
A century ago, Naperville's major employer was a brewery. Fifty years ago, that title went to a furniture manufacturer.
Now, Naperville is known for its health care, tech companies and schools -- which remain the city's top employers even during the current economic recession. Using data from the Naperville Development Partnership, The Sun compared last year's job juggernauts to this year's. And there have been some changes at the top.
Naperville's top employers
Employer/2009 rank/2008 rank/employees in spring 2009/employees in spring 2008
Edward Hospital and Health Services 1 1 4,288 4,600
Lucent/Alcatel 2 5 3,800 1,943
Nicor Gas 3 2 3,700 3,700
Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 4 3 3,184 3,100
Naperville Community Unit School District 203 5 4 2,575 2,425
BP 6 6 1,750 1,800
OfficeMax 7 7 1,500 1,500
Tellabs Inc. 8 8 1,200 1,338
City of Naperville 9 9 1,001 1,043
Ondeo Nalco 10 10 1,000 1,000
North Central College 11 13 526 450
Hallmark Services 12 NA 500 NA
ConAgra 13 14 375 380
Calamos Investments 14 11 265 450
Phoenix Closures 15 15 230 230
Trizetto Group 16 17 225 225
Kraft Foods 17 18 196 200
Solar Communications 18 16 165 230
Notes: Laidlaw, No. 12 in 2008, is now First Student Inc. Hallmark Services moved to Naperville in January.
Source: Naperville Development Partnership
Where are they now?
For instance, the school bus company Laidlaw, No. 12 in 2008, has disappeared from the list. It is now owned by First Student Inc. of Cincinnati.
Calamos Investments dropped from 11th to 14th after shedding nearly half of its employees.
Naperville has gained jobs, too. The No. 12 spot this year is held by a newcomer, Hallmark Services. The company that handles underwriting, claims and service for insurance giant BlueCross BlueShield moved from Aurora to Naperville in January.
Telecommunications company Lucent/Alcatel leapt from fifth to second place after nearly doubling its workforce. Tellabs, meanwhile, lost 338 employees but retained its No. 8 rank.
Holding steady
Another ranking unchanged in the past year is No. 1: Edward Hospital and Health Services. Edward employed 4,288 people as of spring 2009 -- down from 4,600 at the same time in 2008.
Workers include 36 doctors who belong to the Edward Medical Group and more than 1,300 nurses. Some 988 doctors have privileges at Edward but are employed by separate practices, said hospital spokesman Keith Hartenberger.
Also holding steady in the top five are Naperville's school districts, Indian Prairie District 204 and Naperville District 203. Both have added about 100 jobs in the past year.
What's next
Naperville Finance Director Karen DeAngelis recently told City Council members she was worried that continuing high levels of unemployment and underemployment are likely to continue to hold down income tax revenues. The city receives a portion of state income tax revenues on a per-capita basis.
But DeAngelis allowed some optimism into her report. The unemployment rate among Naperville residents was 8.9 percent in June, dropping to 8.5 percent in July, she said.
"It's giving me some hope -- we were seeing the same slight decline they were seeing in the federal rate," she said.
Many of the top firms are hiring again, according to job searches on their corporate Web sites. A number of businesses are moving in. New construction is going on, and new retail stores are opening, said Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership.
Where part of Naperville gained jobs, another part lost. According to the latest state workforce figures available, she said the DuPage County portion of Naperville ended 2008 employing 63,720 people, up 438 from at the end of 2007. The Will County portion of the city employed 4,422 people at the end of 2008, down 337 from a year before.
Jeffries added that the area's office vacancy rate is nearly flat.
She hopes a boost will come as Naperville recruits new companies to the community.
"Hopefully as we come out of this recession, we'll start to see some of those numbers grow," she said. "Naperville's fared better than a lot of communities, but we've certainly been impacted just like everyone else. There's just varying levels of impact. So reaching for new employment opportunities for the community is job
Where the jobs are ... and where they aren't
Hospital, school districts among top Naperville employers
September 24, 2009
By KATIE FOUTZ kfoutz@scn1.com
A century ago, Naperville's major employer was a brewery. Fifty years ago, that title went to a furniture manufacturer.
Now, Naperville is known for its health care, tech companies and schools -- which remain the city's top employers even during the current economic recession. Using data from the Naperville Development Partnership, The Sun compared last year's job juggernauts to this year's. And there have been some changes at the top.
Naperville's top employers
Employer/2009 rank/2008 rank/employees in spring 2009/employees in spring 2008
Edward Hospital and Health Services 1 1 4,288 4,600
Lucent/Alcatel 2 5 3,800 1,943
Nicor Gas 3 2 3,700 3,700
Indian Prairie Community Unit School District 204 4 3 3,184 3,100
Naperville Community Unit School District 203 5 4 2,575 2,425
BP 6 6 1,750 1,800
OfficeMax 7 7 1,500 1,500
Tellabs Inc. 8 8 1,200 1,338
City of Naperville 9 9 1,001 1,043
Ondeo Nalco 10 10 1,000 1,000
North Central College 11 13 526 450
Hallmark Services 12 NA 500 NA
ConAgra 13 14 375 380
Calamos Investments 14 11 265 450
Phoenix Closures 15 15 230 230
Trizetto Group 16 17 225 225
Kraft Foods 17 18 196 200
Solar Communications 18 16 165 230
Notes: Laidlaw, No. 12 in 2008, is now First Student Inc. Hallmark Services moved to Naperville in January.
Source: Naperville Development Partnership
Where are they now?
For instance, the school bus company Laidlaw, No. 12 in 2008, has disappeared from the list. It is now owned by First Student Inc. of Cincinnati.
Calamos Investments dropped from 11th to 14th after shedding nearly half of its employees.
Naperville has gained jobs, too. The No. 12 spot this year is held by a newcomer, Hallmark Services. The company that handles underwriting, claims and service for insurance giant BlueCross BlueShield moved from Aurora to Naperville in January.
Telecommunications company Lucent/Alcatel leapt from fifth to second place after nearly doubling its workforce. Tellabs, meanwhile, lost 338 employees but retained its No. 8 rank.
Holding steady
Another ranking unchanged in the past year is No. 1: Edward Hospital and Health Services. Edward employed 4,288 people as of spring 2009 -- down from 4,600 at the same time in 2008.
Workers include 36 doctors who belong to the Edward Medical Group and more than 1,300 nurses. Some 988 doctors have privileges at Edward but are employed by separate practices, said hospital spokesman Keith Hartenberger.
Also holding steady in the top five are Naperville's school districts, Indian Prairie District 204 and Naperville District 203. Both have added about 100 jobs in the past year.
What's next
Naperville Finance Director Karen DeAngelis recently told City Council members she was worried that continuing high levels of unemployment and underemployment are likely to continue to hold down income tax revenues. The city receives a portion of state income tax revenues on a per-capita basis.
But DeAngelis allowed some optimism into her report. The unemployment rate among Naperville residents was 8.9 percent in June, dropping to 8.5 percent in July, she said.
"It's giving me some hope -- we were seeing the same slight decline they were seeing in the federal rate," she said.
Many of the top firms are hiring again, according to job searches on their corporate Web sites. A number of businesses are moving in. New construction is going on, and new retail stores are opening, said Christine Jeffries, president of the Naperville Development Partnership.
Where part of Naperville gained jobs, another part lost. According to the latest state workforce figures available, she said the DuPage County portion of Naperville ended 2008 employing 63,720 people, up 438 from at the end of 2007. The Will County portion of the city employed 4,422 people at the end of 2008, down 337 from a year before.
Jeffries added that the area's office vacancy rate is nearly flat.
She hopes a boost will come as Naperville recruits new companies to the community.
"Hopefully as we come out of this recession, we'll start to see some of those numbers grow," she said. "Naperville's fared better than a lot of communities, but we've certainly been impacted just like everyone else. There's just varying levels of impact. So reaching for new employment opportunities for the community is job