Illinois unemployment celebrates another good month.
For the month of June, the Illinois Department of Employment Security found that non-farm, over-the-month payrolls saw an increase of 11,400 jobs, while non-farm, over-the-year payrolls saw an increase of 79,000 jobs with both sets of data providing a strong employment showing in some of the same industries and businesses. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate for the month sat at 4.3% based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
IDES Public Information Officer Sam Salustro details which industries and businesses benefited most from the prior month’s job market.
“We are seeing a lot of growth within areas like professional and business and hospitality and leisure. Those are indicative of much longer term trends that have been going on for many, many years. We look at the trends in individual industries to make sure that they are aligning with our expectations. Also, we look at the raw number of jobs that have been created and so, in this case it is 11,000 last month and over the year it has been about 80,000. Those are strong indicators of solid job growth with in Illinois and the United States. When you look at the individual areas, those are more longer termed trends that you are seeing which is why you are seeing a lot more job growth in areas like professional and business and hospitality and leisure.”
The state also show a decline in unemployed workers from the prior month at almost 3%. The unemployment rate identifies any individual who is currently out of work and is seeking employment. Salustro explains why that is and how to tell if someone qualifies as being labeled unemployed by the state.
“This is based off surveyed data. It is actually getting in touch with real people and figuring out what their situation is and then using that data to extrapolate bigger numbers. Something that we also have in there, we talk about the labor force and it grew a little bit last month. So everyone that is of working age and if they are participating in the labor market or not [is a part of the labor force.] There is a lot of people that are unemployed and not seeking work for any number of reasons, but usually when you look at an economy, you want to see the job force growing to some degree and that is what we are seeing here in Illinois. Which means that there are people who, at one point in time were not looking for work but now are actually seeking work.”
Salustro also talks about how Illinois stacks up with the rest of the U. S. on unemployment and what that says about our economy and how our state is being run.
“Illinois usually has an unemployment rate that is a touch higher than what the national level is. That is just the nature of what our economy is like as it has been like that for a long time. With that said, we are usually between half a percentage and one percentage higher, so the fact that we are on the lower end of that scale is a good indication of the strength of our economy here in Illinois.”
To help connect job seekers and employers who are hiring, IDES maintains the state’s largest job search engine, IllinoisJoblink.com which can be used to post resumes and search for available jobs across the state.