Illinois' widening medical industry and its old standby, manufacturing, may be the best places to look for a job this year, although some of the positions will require increasing levels of education and training and many won't pay what they might have just a few years ago, experts said.

Overall, 17 percent of Illinois employers plan to add staff during the first quarter of this year, up 3 percent from a year earlier, according to a survey from the staffing firm Manpower Group. About 71 percent plan to keep staffing levels the same.

"Job creation has been relatively strong in the last two years," said John Challenger, CEO of the Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.