The delay in unemployment reports due to the federal government shutdown has not changed Illinois’ overall gloomy jobs picture. Unemployment is still high in many cities across the state. According to the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, half of Illinois’ Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, had unemployment rates...

ix months ago, Illinois overtook California to become the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, behind only Nevada. It hasn’t budged since. Today’s release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics details yet another month of stalled unemployment numbers for Illinois. The state’s August unemployment rate remained at 9.2 percent – 1.9 percentage...

Tomorrow, Illinois is likely to celebrate its six-month anniversary of having the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. That’s when the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, releases its Regional and State Employment and Unemployment report for August. In the meantime, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, pre-released some of the BLS data...

The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the national unemployment rate edged down in August to 7.3 percent, down from 7.4 percent one month earlier. Non-farm payroll employment rose by 169,000. Unemployment decreased by 193,000, leaving the total number of unemployed Americans at 11.3 million in August. But there are many Americans suffering from...

Almost all metropolitan areas across Illinois saw an increase in their unemployment rate in July. According to the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, eight of Illinois’ 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, saw their unemployment rates increase. The only region to experience a drop was Chicago, while the...

Illinois has the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation, a rank the state has held for five months now, behind only the state of Nevada. Illinois’ unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in July, up from 9.1 percent in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS. Today’s BLS release highlights how poorly...

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced today that the national unemployment rate dropped to 7.4 percent in July from 7.6 percent in June. The number of unemployed persons dropped by 263,000 to 11.5 million. Over the course of the year, unemployment and the unemployment rate are down by 1.2 million and 0.8 percentage points,...

by John Klingner President Barack Obama visited to Galesburg last week to give a speech in which he said he would refocus on jobs and the economy. That’s little comfort for the unemployed workers in cities across Illinois. The economic policies the president wishes to enact at the federal level have been at work for...

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, or BLS, reported Thursday that Illinois’ unemployment rate rose to 9.2 percent in June from 9.1 percent in May. Illinois still has the nation’s second-highest unemployment rate, a ranking it has held since March. Only Nevada has a higher unemployment rate at 9.6 percent. BLS also reported Illinois’ nonfarm payrolls increased by...

Illinois has the nation’s second-worst unemployment rate. At 9.1 percent, it’s 1.5 percentage points higher than the national average of 7.6 percent. The lack of jobs continues to be a major burden to the people of Illinois, at both the state and local level. A year-over-year comparison of Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, reveals an uneven...