©2011 Galesburg Broadcasting Co.
| Galesburg Unemployment Eclipses 9%, State Says Capital Bill Would Help |
Unemployment numbers many people thought would hit in the area after the closures of the Galesburg Maytag and Butler Manufacturing plants, but never happened then, are happening now.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security says the unemployment figure for the entire Galesburg area in February -- combining numbers from throughout the Galesburg and Monmouth areas -- was 8.6% -- almost two points higher than this time a year ago. Knox County alone has risen to 9.2%; Warren County has gone up to only 7%; and in the City of Galesburg, that number is at 9.4%. That's a full one-percentage point higher than a month ago, and almost two and a half points higher than a year ago.
In the Galesburg area, the IDES says the good news is that in the one-year period, non-farm payroll jobs increased by 150, As a part of that retail trade jobs increased by 125, and government jobs increased by 100. The bad news, though, is that some of the figures were offset by construction employment being down by 150.
Other area counties are being hit much harder than this area with unemployment. Fulton County's jobless number, for instance, is up to 10.5% -- increasing over three-percent from February of 2008, and a point-and-a-half since last month.
Henderson County's unemployment rate is actually down slightly from last month, but still a very high number -- 11% versus 11.3% in January.
The highest unemployment rate in the state is Boone County at 16.4%, nearly steady from last month. They have 4,500 people without jobs.
The largest city unemployment rate in the state outside of Chicago is Rockford, where nearly 15%are out of work.
State employment officials say if lawmakers would pass a capital bill, that would be a big held toward putting people back to work. |
|
| 04 01 09 by Newsroom |
Click here for the WGIL News Archive
Click here for national news
The following provision applies to all visitors (which shall include persons and representatives of legal entities, whether such representatives are persons or digital engines of a kind that crawls, indexes, scrapes, copies, stores or transmits digital content). By accessing this Web site or digital service, you specifically acknowledge and agree that: (i) Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium; (ii) No Associated Press materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use; (iii) The Associated Press will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing; (iv) The Associated Press is an intended third party beneficiary of these terms and conditions and it may exercise all rights and remedies available to it; and (v) The Associated Press reserves the right to audit possible unauthorized commercial use of AP materials or any portion thereof at any time.
