The majority of big Illinois cities recorded job increases last month compared with October of last year, but Bloomington-Normal was not one of them.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security [IDES] reported the Twin Cities' non-farm workforce contracted by 300 jobs to 101,100 people.
“Illinois continues to benefit from job growth and positive economic trends in every corner of the state,” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. “As payroll expansion continues to motivate eager job seekers, IDES and its local area workforce partners remain focused on providing the necessary services and tools to get workers matched with employers.”
Bloomington-Normal also is among the metro areas in Illinois with the largest increases in the unemployment rate in October. IDES said the Twin Cities' labor market jobless rate rose to 4.3%. The 0.4% jump is larger than in all major cities in the state except Chicago and the Quad Cities.
Champaign-Urbana, Lake County and Kenosha, Wisconsin, and the Illinois section of the St. Louis metro area, all have lower unemployment rates than the Bloomington-Normal area that had the same jobless rate as Carbondale and Springfield in October.
Six cities in Illinois had unemployment increases last month and six had decreases. Rockford led the state with a drop in the unemployment rate of 0.7%, though its overall rate was 5.4%.
IDES said Bloomington-Normal saw employment increase in Leisure-Hospitality, Private Education-Health Services, Retail Trade and Other Services. Payroll decreased in Mining-Construction, Manufacturing, Professional-Business Services, Government and Financial Activities.
Industries that saw job growth in most of the metro areas included Government, Private Education, and Health Services.
