By Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – The state’s unemployment rate remained unchanged for the month of September, but the labor-force continues to shrink.
Illinois’ unemployment rate is 5.5 percent for September, a half-percent higher than the national average.
Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) Public Information Officer Bob Gough said that while there’s a lot of focus on the unemployment rate, the real news is with the labor-force participation numbers.
“When we see those labor-force numbers decrease, that means we either have people retiring, we’ve got people moving out of the state, or we have people that have just quit looking.”
IDES said the labor-force number edged lower last month for the fifth consecutive drop this year.
Gough said that’s not what IDES wants; it wants people to be employed.
“The governor’s administration is trying to put forth reforms that will make it easier for job creators to do just that,” Gough said.
Those efforts have been blocked by Democratic leaders in the General Assembly, Gough said.
While there were gains in professional and business services for the month (up 5,100), there were continued losses in manufacturing (down 800). For the past 12 months, the manufacturing sector lost 12,700 jobs. That’s on pace to match the 14,000 manufacturing jobs lost in all of 2015.
Gough said there’s a disparity not only between white- and blue-collar jobs, but also between metro and non metro areas. “Look at how job growth is primarily confined to the areas north of I-80; we’ve had growth up there — it’s anemic growth compared to other metro areas across the state — and many of the downstate areas still haven’t fully recovered yet.”
The state’s employment levels are still nearly 39,000 shy of Illinois’ peak employment levels 16 years ago.
