By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – The state’s unemployment rate fell below six percent in June for the first time since 2008.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security said the June rate was 5.9 percent, despite the loss of 7,500 jobs last month. IDES also modified its May report to indicate job gains of 7,400 instead of the previously reported 9,500 in May 2015.
Construction and leisure and hospitality firms had the largest job declines while companies in the transportation and utilities, financial activities and educational and health services sectors added the most jobs last month.
The construction sector lost the most jobs in June. Despite an overall gain of 7,200 in the last 12 months, the construction sector has lost 1,700 jobs the last three months.
The manufacturing sector has lost 6,300 jobs since last year, the most of any sector, but actually reported a gain of 600 jobs last month.
The number of unemployed people looking for worked dropped to 382,000. That’s a 2.5 percent drop from May 2015 and a 14.5 percent drop from June 2014.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at joe.ragusa@cumulus.com.
