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| Galesburg Records Small Drop in March Unemployment |
UPDATED 9:55 a-m 4/26/09 Unemployment that's topped the nine-percent mark in Illinois is taking a toll on local labor markets, but there is a flicker of good news as Knox County and Galesburg had fewer workers listed as unemployed last month.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security's latest jobless numbers show the unemployment rates for March in both Galesburg and Knox County are 9.2 percent. That represents a decline of one-tenth of a percentage point in the city, while the county's rate is unchanged from February. However, the number of unemployed individuals in Knox County fell from 2,327 in February to 2,294 in March, or 33 people. The drop in Galesburg was 43 workers.
Like Knox County, unemployment rates were down modestly in Warren, Fulton and Henderson counties. Warren County had the lowest rate in the Galesburg area and the tenth lowest in the state at 6.8 percent, down from February's 6.9 percent. Fulton County's rate dropped to 10.2 percent from 10.5 the previous month. Henderson County's rate fell from 10.9 to 10.6 percent. The only increase in the area occurred in Henry County, where unemployment jumped to 9 percent from the previous month's 8.9 percent.
IDES says 11 of the state's 12 metropolitan areas reported their highest unemployment rates for March in 20 years. The Rockford area's 13.5 percent rate is the highest. Jobless rates in all of the metropolitan areas last month were above previous-year levels. That's also the case in the Galesburg area. Warren County's rate a year ago was 5.2, or an increase of 1.6 percent. The increase is 2.4 percent in Galesburg, 2.6 in Henry County, 2.7 in Knox County, 3.5 in Fulton and 3.6 percent in Henderson County.
Regionally, Mercer County had the highest unemployment rate at 11.1 percent, which is actually down four-tenths of a percent from February but up 3.4 percent from March of last year.
The state of Illinois' unemployment rate is 9.1 percent. |
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| 04 25 09 by Newsroom |
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