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| Monthly Snapshot of Economy Shows Improvement |
The economy in Illinois still has a long way to go before it's declared recovered, but a monthly report shows improvement is taking place.
The University of Illinois' Flash Index, an indicator of economic activity in the state, is up slightly in April compared to March. This month's reading is 91.8, or 3-tenths of a point higher. Readings under 100 reflect economic contraction while over 100 means growth.
The Flash Index author, University of Illinois economist Fred Giertz, says even though the report's number is up a little over last month's, unemployment is still a problem.
"Illinois was doing fairly well until about 6 months ago or so," Giertz said. "But now, our unemployment rate is up to 11.4%, which is quite a bit higher than the national average. It shows that the Illinois economy is not recovering very rapidly."
Figures released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security recently list the City of Galesburg's unemployment rate at 12.7 percent. That's down 3-tenths of a percentage point. Knox County's 12.4 percent rate dropped 1-tenth and the 10.8 percent jobless rate in Warren County reflected a decline of 2-tenths. The rates are much higher than those from a year ago at the same time, which is a statewide trend.
Giertz says Illinois is headed toward recovery, but the state's still not yet close to getting there. The good news, Giertz says, is businesses are seeing better profits. He says the three indicators - individual income taxes, sales taxes corporate taxes - are down slightly from a year ago, but the decline isn't as bad as the past several months. |
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| 04 10 10 by Newsroom |
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