Bloomington-Normal's unemployment rate has dropped below 5%, but the area also has seen a decline in the workforce over each of the last four months, according to data the Illinois Department of Employment Security released on Thursday.
Bloomington-Normal is still well ahead of last year when more COVID restrictions were in place. The county has added 800 jobs since July 2020, when the jobless rate was 9.2%.
The most job gains were in Leisure and Hospitality (+600), Construction (+600), Educational-Health Services (+400) and Transportation-Warehousing-Utilities (+200) The Twin Cities saw a loss of 900 jobs in financial activity over the last year.
Bloomington-Normal shares the lowest jobless rate in the state (4.9%) with Lake County-Kenosha, (Wis.)
Rockford, which has the highest unemployment at 8.7%, is the only metro area in Illinois that did not add jobs over the last year.
The statewide unemployment rate is 7%.
