While the Illinois Department of Employment Security’s November jobs report claims unemployment rates are up, locally our 7-county region remains basically stagnant. Hamilton County is the only county in our immediate area that saw an uptick from 3.4 to 3.5%. With that however, Hamilton County remains an area with one of the lowest unemployment rates not just locally, but throughout the entire state. Furthermore, the number isn’t that far off from the one-year mark when it sat at 3.3%.
Two of the seven counties even experienced drops in their rate including Saline (6.2% in October, down to 5.9% for November) and Gallatin County (from 5.8% in October to 5.7% in November). The other four counties all remained flat from October to November with Wayne at 4.4%, Wabash at 4.1%, White at 4.0%, and Edwards at 4.2%.
Gallatin and Saline Counties lead the way in over the year hikes with Gallatin up 1.3 (4.4% in November of 2019) and Saline up 1.2 (4.7% in November of 2019).
Statewide, Illinois unemployment rate for November sits at 6.5%, that’s up from 3.4% covering the same month one year ago. The report shows that non-farm job losses increased in all fourteen metropolitan areas from a year ago. Nationally, America is hovering around a 6.4% unemployment rate for November.
Deputy Governor Dan Hynes says, “With the passage of new federal CoViD-19 relief legislation, IDES will work as quickly as possible to implement the extensions and creation of unemployment programs included in the new stimulus if and when it’s signed.” See more at https://www2.illinois.gov/IISNews/22539-IDES_November_Unemployment_Region_9.pdf
