The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced Thursday that the unemployment rate in the state fell a half of a percentage point last month. Non-farm payrolls added 66,000 jobs and the state’s unemployment rate is now at 11%. The July monthly change in payrolls was revised upward from the preliminary report, from 93,200 to 105,000 jobs. The July unemployment rate was revised upward from the preliminary report, from 11.3 percent to 11.5 percent. Morgan County’s jobless rate in July was 8.3%.
The state’s unemployment rate was 2.6 percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate reported for August, which was 8.4 percent and 7.2 percentage points higher than the state average from a year ago when it was at 3.8%.
County-wide unemployment statistics will be released later this week.