After several months of rising unemployment rates and fewer local positions, the Bloomington-Normal area economy got some good news in Thursday’s state jobs report.
The Bloomington-Normal area’s unemployment rate fell to 3.3% in May, down from 3.6% in May 2018, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday. That’s tied with Springfield for the lowest jobless rate for any metro area in Illinois. It’s also lower than the statewide (3.6%) and national (3.4%) unemployment rates for May.
The Bloomington-Normal area had 93,200 nonfarm jobs as of May, up 100 positions from a year ago, IDES reported. The area had been losing jobs month after month through April.
The biggest gains, by sector, were in Leisure & Hospitality (+300 jobs), Government (+200), Educational & Health Services (+200), and Professional & Business Services (+100). The biggest losses were in Retail Trade (lost 400 jobs).
There were an estimated 3,150 unemployed people in the local labor force in May, IDES reported.
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