Unemployment rates have gone down in the past year in every Illinois metropolitan area, including Bloomington-Normal.
Bloomington-Normal's unemployment rate fell from 4.4 percent to 3.8 percent, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) reported Thursday. Statewide, the unemployment rate fell from 5 percent to 4.4 percent since March 2017. Nationally, the unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in March 2018.
There were an estimated 3,700 unemployed people in the local labor force in March 2018.
IDES Director Jeff Mays said this trend can be seen throughout Illinois.
“We continue to see declining unemployment rates in all areas,” Mays said. “In fact, the March unemployment rate was down in all but one of Illinois’ 102 counties.”
The unemployment rate identifies those who are out of work and looking for work and is not tied to collecting unemployment insurance benefits.
The report also shows 41,900 jobs have also been added in 10 metropolitan areas in Illinois since March 2017. Around 300 of those have been added in the Bloomington-Normal area. Industry sectors recording job growth in the Twin Cities include leisure and hospitality and government.
Declines were reported in retail trade, professional and business services, information, transportation, warehousing and utilities, manufacturing and other services.
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