Bloomington-Normal added 500 jobs over the last year to maintain a share of the lowest unemployment rate in Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday that the local jobless rate dropped to 3.3 percent in May, down from 3.7 percent in May 2017, totaling 95,000 jobs.
IDES said unemployment rates dropped over-the-year in all of the state’s metro areas.
“For the third consecutive month, the unemployment rate is below the previous year levels in all metro areas,” IDES Director Jeff Mays said in a news release.
The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights market tied Bloomington-Normal with the lowest unemployment rate. The best year-to-year drop was in Rockford, which saw its unemployment rate fall from 5.8 to 4.4 percent.
The highest jobless rate in Illinois is Danville’s 5.1 percent.
Statewide unemployment is 3.5 percent.
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