CHAMPAIGN – 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 2 years,” said John Challenger, CEO of the Chicago-based outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.