The website Money-Rates.com recently did an analysis of all 50 states to determine the best states to make a living, based on the following factors - average state wages, state cost of living, state unemployment rate and state tax rate. Surprisingly, the website ranked Illinois as the best state in the country to make a living. Go ahead and re-read that; we had to. more ›

McDonald's has been getting some traction in the news cycles regarding its nationwide job search today. The Oakbrook-headquartered company is looking to hire 50,000 people to jobs ranging from restaurant crew members to salaried management today. (Here is a list of McDonald's 1,500 open job availabilities in the Chicago area.) more ›

A car salesman is having his fifteen minutes of fame after he was fired from his job yesterday for wearing a Green Bay Packers tie to work. John Stone was asked to remove his Packers tie yesterday when he arrived at Webb Chevrolet in Oak Lawn, where he worked as a salesman. Stone thought that his boss, Jerry Roberts, was joking and went on about his day. Roberts later fired Stone when Stone refused to remove the tie. more ›

Last week, an agreement between BNSF railroad and a subcontractor used to hire Teamsters union members as hostlers to load the double-stacked shipping containers between trains and trucks expired. in the weeks leading up to the expiration, BNSF had been laying off those employees hired by the subcontractor. Now that there's no agreement in place, BNSF is able to fill these positions directly. Teamsters workers have been invited to reapply for their jobs but are facing a litany of excuses for not being hired, including being overweight. more ›

The vacant prison in Thomson, Illinois could stay vacant for quite some time now. The prison went up for auction yesterday, but no one showed up to bid on it. more ›

Looking for a job? Willing to work nights and get to see the city? Maybe writing parking tickets is for you. more ›

Mayor Daley has three vacancies to fill in City Council once again. For the second time in nine months, he's taking applications. With Toni Preckwinkle moving on to the County Board presidency, Ed Smith retiring and Tom Allen being appointed to a Circuit Court judgeship, Daley's looking for go-getters to serve as aldermen until the new City Council is sworn in next May. more ›

A college administrator at Benedictine University in Springfield is accusing the university of firing her over a wedding announcement she and her wife filed in the Springfield State Journal-Register. more ›

Governor Quinn will extend the Put Illinois to Work for up to two more months. The program, which has managed to put 26,000 people to work at more than 5,000 public and private sector employers, is set to expire September 30th. Governor Quinn plans to spend $75 million to keep the program running until Congress votes on an extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund. more ›

Crain's has released their annual list of the best places in the Chicagloand area to work. The study considered, "any business with more than 50 employees as of Sept. 30 in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will counties." The number one workplace? McTigue Financial Group. more ›

The new United We Work site - which just went public this week - seems to be catching on. Free for job seekers and employers alike through the end of the year, the site is expected to have 500,000 job openings posted by the end of this week. The incentive for employers to use the site, is a reduction in the cost of hiring because the responsibility for finding qualified candidates is shared across participating employers. “We believe that if we can break those [cost barriers] down, it may stimulate an employer to hire now instead of waiting six months,” Jason Kerr, founder of QuietAgent told the Tribune. more ›

United We Work, a job matching website fronted by Jason Kerr, founder and CEO of Chicago-based QuietAgent, is publicly available today. United We Work, "a new nationwide service designed to stimulate hiring by connecting job seekers and employers without any recruiting, job posting or advertising fees," puts employers together with job-seekers at no charge. Backed by Starbucks Coffee Co., AT&T Inc., Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and 7-Eleven Inc, as well as Sears Holdings and Allstate, Kerr's goal is to stimulate hiring by cutting out the costs associated with recruitment. According to Kerr, recruitment, job postings and advertising cost U.S. companies about $60 billion. United We Work won't cost employers anything for the rest of this year, but in 2010, firms employing more than 100 people will be charged $35 annually for the service; job seekers will continue to access the site for free. more ›

While the U.S. Senate was debating the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the bill that President Obama hopes will pump billions of dollars and thousands of jobs into the faltering economy, the White House released a study indicating that the bill could save or create 150,000 jobs over the next two years. According to Crain's Chicago Business, those estimates "are based on the overall goal that the plan will create or save 3 million to 4 million jobs nationally over the next two years." (You can check out per capita details of the House stimulus plan over at the Wall Street Journal's nifty "Who gets what" map.) more ›

The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced today that the state's unemployment rate now stands at 7.3 percent, a 15-year high. There are currently 491,300 unemployed people in Illinois, which is the most since June 1992. Nationally, the unemployment rate is 5.7, a five-year high. [IDES] more ›

Apparently finding a summer job is not as easy as it used to be. Kids looking for part-time employment are facing a shrinking job market, and it's already difficult to land a job without experience or job history. And on July 1, the state will increase its minimum wage from $7.50 to $7.75, possibly increasing the squeeze on the number of available jobs. more ›