Unemployment

Bloomington-Normal's labor force grew by 2,600 jobs in the last year as the unemployment rate dropped. State labor data show the Bloomington-Normal labor market area has the lowest unemployment in the state at 3.1%.

Bloomington-Normal added 3,200 jobs over the last year, while the unemployment rate rose slightly.

Job gains in government, retail trade, and educational and health services helped reduce Bloomington-Normal's unemployment to the lowest in Illinois.

Unemployment dropped half a point in Bloomington-Normal last month. The Twin Cities is tied with the Quad Cities for the lowest jobless rate in the state at less than 3.4%, according to state labor data.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said he's open to tweaking the Safe-T Act that will do away with the cash bail system in the state starting in January. "The Safe-T Act is about keeping people safe all across our state, keeping murderers, rapists, and domestic abusers in jail, not letting them buy their way out, which is the system that we had," he said.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security says the July unemployment rate was 4% for the Bloomington Normal area.

Bloomington-Normal's unemployment rate dipped below 4% last month. The largest job gains were in government, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and construction.

The number of people working in the Bloomington-Normal area last month rose by more than 4% from May of last year.

There's already a lot of consumer angst about rising electricity rates in central Illinois. Ameren Illinois said the average bill for households in this part of the state could rise by $500-600 this year. And when there's that much pain and that much stress, lawmakers get calls.

Bloomington-Normal saw the largest percentage of year-to-year job growth of all 14 metro areas in Illinois.