The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate in April rose 0.1 percentage points to 6.6 percent and nonfarm payrolls increased by +5,400 jobs, based on preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and IDES. Illinois remains -43,000 jobs short of its peak employment level reached in September 2000.
“April saw modest job growth but more than half of this growth was experienced in temporary jobs or employment agencies,” said IDES Director Jeff Mays. “Additionally, though Illinois jobs saw a moderate increase over the last four months, the portion of full-time jobs in Illinois remains lower than it was before the recession began in 2007.”
“Illinois’ growth continues to lag the rest of the country, and is one of only three states that have not regained its peak employment,” Illinois Department of Commerce Director Sean McCarthy said. “If Illinois had kept pace with national growth, our state would have added another quarter million jobs for hardworking Illinois families. Instead, unemployment in Illinois rose for the sixth month in a row. We need structural reforms that get the Illinois economy growing in order to create jobs and catch up with the rest of the country.”
In April, the three industry sectors with the largest gains in employment were: Professional and Business Services (+7,600); Educational and Health Services (+2,600) and Government (+1,400). The two industry sectors with the largest declines in employment were: Other Services (-2,300); and Financial Activities (-2,200).
Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +67,500jobs with the largest gains in Leisure and Hospitality (+20,800); Educational and Health Services (+20,800); and Professional and Business Services (+14,000). Industry sectors with over-the-year declines in April include: Manufacturing (-5,900); Information Services (-2,600) and Financial Activities (-2,200). The 1.1 percent over-the-year gain in Illinois is less than the 1.9 percent gain posted by the nation in April.
The state’s unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate reported for April 2016, which held at 5.0 percent. The Illinois unemployment rate stood 0.7 percentage points above the unemployment rate a year ago when it was 5.9 percent. According to IDES analysts, the unemployment rate is increasing in Illinois because of lagging job growth and more workers entering the labor force who are not immediately able to find work.
The number of unemployed workers increased +2.3 percent from the prior month to 439,400, up +14.7 percent over the same month for the prior year. The labor force grew by +2.7 percent in April over the prior year. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and are seeking employment. An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.
- Tone - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:08 pm:
I sure as hell hope those are Federal government jobs. We need less state and local public employees, not more.
- Keyrock - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:36 pm:
Tone, that’s “fewer,” not “less.” Your grammar is as faulty as your political analysis.
- Anonymous - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:41 pm:
Mays’ glass is always half empty.
- Mark Thackeray - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:54 pm:
Thumbs up, Keyrock!
- Once Again Illinois Bob - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:13 pm:
(Formerly Arizona Bob)So we’ve been adding dishwashers, waitresses, housekeepers, and more teachers and administrators for declining enrollment while losing middle class manufacturing and bank jobs.
We have been adding professional services, sales and marketing jobs, but most companies doing the work also have out of state offices where they can transfer operations once things get even more toxic in Illinois. They just need to pack up and leave their leased office space.
BTW, I needed to become and Illinois resident again for the Federal tax advantages of establishing residence and selling a primary residence, not the job or tax climate here.
It really galls me to pay income tax again to this mess of a political machine.
- Ghost - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:15 pm:
so Gdp has increased way over 2007 levels…. meaning we have more money in our economy… so saying we need reform to get jobs is off the mark. our economy is growing, the money is not being used for workers. The problem is wealth transfer, we are making money but it is not trickling down to jobs. the stall happened whenthe income tax reduced and we stipped putting money into middle class jobs and spending in favor of tax breaks.
- Huh? - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:24 pm:
I am so confused, how on god’s green earth did the jobs number increase without 1.4% disastrous agenda being passed? I thought that the TA had to be passed or jobs were going to pick up and move somewhere else. /s
- lake county democrat - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 5:21 pm:
The key measure of the economy now is wages. The unemployment stat is suspect as to how many drop-outs its missing, and the number of jobs don’t tell you the quality of those jobs.
- anon - Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 5:29 pm:
6.6% vs. 5.9% a year earlier. Six straight months of a rising unemployment rate. If that had happened on Quinn’s watch, Rauner and the GOP would’ve been blaming Dems and Quinn.