SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Job additions and unemployment rates continue to improve across Illinois, although the unemployment rate is only dropping slightly.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics say the Peoria-area unemployment rate dropped two tenths of a percent in October from the same period a year ago, sitting now at 4.5%.
With the exception of Rockford, which saw a one-point-three percentage point drop in the same period, most jobless average drops were close to that.
Champaign-Urbana’s unemployment rate was unchanged, while Kankakee’s went up slightly.
Peoria added 4,500 non-farm jobs year over year, according to IDES.
“Job growth in every corner of the state has remained consistently strong for more than a year and a half” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar, in a press release. “Employers and jobseekers alike are encouraged to take advantage of the employment services IDES has to offer to participate in the expanding labor market.”
Unemployment rates are not seasonally-adjusted.
The October statewide unemployment rate is 4.3%, down 0.5% from the year before. Overall, the state added 191,900 jobs year over year.
(Illinois Department of Employment Security/Bureau of Labor Statistics)
