All 14 metropolitan areas and all 101 counties saw a decline in the jobless rate compared to last year says Illinois Department of Security Spokesperson Sam Salustro. “This has been especially good news. We actually saw record unemployment rates in areas like Carbondale and the Metro East. Having good news come out of there is always great. We’ve had a number of months now where the state has seen very solid job growth. It’s great to see it continue statewide. We experienced positive job growth in 12 of the 14 metropolitan areas. We saw especially good results coming out of the aforementioned Carbondale, Danville, and Champaign.”
Data also shows the number of nonfarm jobs increased in twelve Illinois metropolitan areas and decreased in two. With the state showing overall 3.8% unemployment for the month of August, the local counties also showed a downward trend in unemployment rates. Morgan was right in line with state average at 3.8%, Cass stood at 3.6%, Schulyer at 3.8%, Brown at 2.4%, Pike at 3.4%. Scott and Greene Counties were just above the state average at 4.2% and 4.1% respectively, still better than 1 year ago according to the latest data.
The most severe unemployment rates came at the most southern portions at the state, with Hardin County holding the highest rate at 6.1%. North Central Illinois also held some unusually high rates with Henderson, McDonough, Fulton, Mason, Peoria, Stark, and Macon Counties all at or near 5% unemployment for the month of August.
With the job market continuing to stay steady, Illinois’ economy may be heading for growth for a second straight month in September.