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Bloomington-Normal Loses 300 Jobs In One Year

Job fair
Annie Rice
/
AP
People wait to talk to potential, future employers at a job fair, on June 20, 2018, in Chicago.

Bloomington-Normal is one of three metro areas in Illinois which lost jobs over the last year.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday that the Twin Cities lost 300 jobs from July 2017 to July 2018, even though the area’s unemployment rate improved slightly from 4.3 to 4.2 percent.

The Carbondale-Marion market led the state with 400 job losses. Danville lost 100 jobs.

Unemployment rates in all 14 metro areas declined over the last year as the statewide jobless rate dropped from 5.1 to 4.3 percent.

“The number of employed people increased in all metro areas, which contributed to the decrease in the unemployment rate,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “This has driven the unemployment rate down to near record lows across the state.”

Leisure and hospitality drove much of the job gains, as they increased in 12 of the 14 markets. Manufacturing, transportation, warehousing and utilities and professional and business services added jobs in 10 of 14 markets.

The state’s lowest unemployment is in the Quad Cities area (including Moline and Rock Island) at 3.7 percent. Danville is highest at 5.9 percent.

Unemployment
Infogram
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Eric Stock is the News Director at WGLT. You can contact Eric at ejstoc1@ilstu.edu.
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