A perfect 10 – Unemployment rises to 10% in Illinois

by Emily Dietrich Illinois’ unemployment rate rose to 10 percent, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported today. For yet another month, more Illinoisans were added to the unemployment rolls. Specifically, 10,500 people lost their jobs last month or started looking for work after having given up. Yet, Illinois did experience some job creation. In September, 1,600...

by Emily Dietrich

Illinois’ unemployment rate rose to 10 percent, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported today. For yet another month, more Illinoisans were added to the unemployment rolls. Specifically, 10,500 people lost their jobs last month or started looking for work after having given up.

Yet, Illinois did experience some job creation. In September, 1,600 jobs were added to the Illinois economy. Unfortunately for the 663,300 unemployed Illinoisans, this barely makes a dent in the state’s joblessness.

In fact, Illinois created one job for every 415 unemployed Illinoisans. If so many families in Illinois weren’t fighting for their livelihood, it would be almost comical that some are headlining Illinois’ addition of hundreds of jobs. Illinois doesn’t need hundreds of jobs – it needs hundreds of thousands.

Anemic job creation will not get Illinois out of its jobs crisis. Instead, the state needs sustainable job growth driven by the private sector.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its monthly survey that breaks down the jobs market by state. Check back tomorrow for in-depth analysis on Illinois’ jobs market compared to other states.

Illinois’ Unemployment Rate Continues to Climb
January 2011 – September 2011

Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS)