Illinois Jobless Rate at Lowest Ever Figure

Print

Published on September 20 2019 3:30 pm
Last Updated on September 22 2019 8:22 pm

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate was 4% in August, down 0.2% from the prior month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES.

The August unemployment rate was the lowest monthly unemployment rate for the state on record. Nonfarm payrolls were stable compared to the prior month, down 1,400 jobs.

The July monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report (from -400 to +1,300 jobs).

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate was 4% in August, down 0.2% from the prior month, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES.

The August unemployment rate was the lowest monthly unemployment rate for the state on record. Nonfarm payrolls were stable compared to the prior month, down 1,400 jobs. The July monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report (from -400 to +1,300 jobs).

The state’s unemployment rate is 0.3% higher than the national unemployment rate reported for August 2019, which was 3.7% and unchanged from the previous month. The Illinois unemployment rate was down 0.2% from a year ago when it was 4.2%. Illinois payroll employment has shown variability since the beginning of the year, as have national payrolls. Average payroll employment growth in Illinois during the June to August three-month period, which provides a more stable measure of payroll employment change, was +2,500 jobs, with the largest gains in Educational and Health Services (+900), Government (+900) and Financial Activities (+700).

Compared to a year ago, nonfarm payroll employment increased by +65,500 jobs with the largest gains in these industry sectors in August: Educational and Health Services (+17,900), Leisure and Hospitality (+14,300) and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+10,300).

The industry sectors with declines compared to last year were: Information (-4,000) and Mining (-500). Illinois nonfarm payrolls were up 1.1% over-the-year as compared to the nation’s 1.4% over-the-year gain in August.