Job Market Stable Across West Central Illinois in April

By Benjamin Cox on May 30, 2023 at 1:39pm

Unemployment in the area appears to have leveled off and crept downward in the month of April.

Scott County is still in the midst of recovery, at 4.9%. That’s nearly 3% better than the 7.2% the county sat at in February after the Westermeyer Industries campus fire.

Morgan, Greene, Cass, Pike, and Schuyler have all dipped back under 4% in the last two months. Brown County now sits under 2% unemployment, signaling that work has all come back to mostly full strength across West Central Illinois.

The unemployment rate increased in six metropolitan areas, decreased in five, and was unchanged in three for the year ending in April. The Springfield Metropolitan Area added over 2,000 jobs over the year and saw their over-the-year rate dip to 3.7%.

Illinois as a whole lags behind the national unemployment rate by a little less than a full percentage point at 4.2%. Central Illinois’ job market as a whole is better than the two other regions in the state, with only three counties above 5% unemployment.