July unemployment: Illinois unemployment rate stalled at 9.2 percent

The Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, announced today that the Illinois unemployment rate increased to 9.2 percent in July from June’s revised rate of 9.1 percent. Illinois’ unemployment rate is still 1.8 percentage points above the national average, which fell to 7.4 percent in July. The number of unemployed Illinoisans now stands at 604,700, up...

The Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, announced today that the Illinois unemployment rate increased to 9.2 percent in July from June’s revised rate of 9.1 percent. Illinois’ unemployment rate is still 1.8 percentage points above the national average, which fell to 7.4 percent in July.

The number of unemployed Illinoisans now stands at 604,700, up from 600,655 in June. This is the second month in a row Illinois has seen its unemployment numbers increase.

Illinois did see some job growth over the month, however. In the private sector, Professional and Business services saw the largest gain, with 8,000 jobs added. Educational and Health Services lost the most: 3,600 jobs. In all, the private sector added 7,100 net jobs.

However, a decline of 500 jobs in the public sector meant Illinois saw only  6,600 net jobs added in July overall.

Since last year, Illinois has added only 55,500 net jobs. But Illinois needs to add more than 118,000 jobs to reduce the state’s unemployment rate to the national average, and more than 315,000 jobs to reach the state’s prerecession unemployment rate low of 4.4 percent.

Illinois needs to create jobs at a faster pace to experience a real recovery. At July’s rate of net job creation, it would take the state almost 18 months to reach the current national unemployment rate of 7.4 percent.