DETROIT (Reuters) - A parts shortage has forced a two-day shutdown at a Chrysler plant in Illinois where the automaker builds the Dodge Caliber, the Jeep Compass and the Jeep Patriot, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Chrysler employs 2,300 workers on two shifts at the Belvidere assembly plant in Northern Illinois that were idled on Wednesday and will remain idled on Thursday because of the parts shortage, Chrysler spokeswoman Jodi Tinson said.

Tinson did not identify the parts or the supplier.

Chrysler, which is under the management control of Italy's Fiat SpA following a U.S. government-supported bankruptcy in 2009, posted a 36 percent drop in U.S. sales last year, while industry sales overall fell 21 percent.

(Reporting by David Bailey, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)