World Business Chicago tracks indicators from month to month to gauge the strength of several aspects of Chicago’s economy, including employment in major sectors, residential and office real estate data, price and purchasing indexes, freight demand, and auto and truck sales. Note: employment data refers to payroll job estimates for the city of Chicago and is not adjusted for seasonality.

Key trends evident this month include:

The Chicago (city) economy has expanded by an estimated 5,964 jobs since May 2013, mostly attributed to education and health services (+6,082), professional and business services (+3,094) and transportation and utilities (+1,368) sectors.

Residential building permits in the city increased to 2,624 units year-to-date in May, a 120.7% improvement compared to the same time period last year.

The Chicago Business Barometer, a regional view considered to be a leading indicator of the national economy, improved by 11 percentage points from June 2013 to June 2014.

Annual visitors to the city reached a record 48.34 million in 2013, a 4.2% increase from 2012.

These and other trends are illustrated in this month’s Chicago By The Numbers.