Bloomington-Normal's jobless rate continued to fall in August, as the local economy added around 1,700 jobs in the past year, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday.
The Bloomington-Normal area's unemployment rate fell to 4.2 percent last month, down from 5.3 percent in August 2016, IDES reported. That was the largest decline in jobless rate for any metro area in Illinois.
There were 93,000 total nonfarm jobs in the Bloomington-Normal area in August, up 1,700 positions from a year ago, IDES reported.
Bloomington-Normal's jobless rate remained lower than the statewide average (5.2 percent) and national average (4.5 percent) in August.
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