State’s jobless rate inches up

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The Illinois seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for May reached 10.1 percent, an increase of 0.7 percent over April, according to figures released today by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Unemployment in Illinois and nationwide has reached 25-year highs.

Total nonfarm payroll in Illinois declined by 17,400 jobs in May. Although the pace of job loss lessened compared with the previous six months, Illinois recorded its eighth consecutive month of job losses. The number of unemployed people reached 671,400, the highest since June 1983.

Figures for Rockford and other metro areas in the state will be released June 25. In April, the local metro area’s nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 12.1 percent and in its second straight month of decline, although more than 2,600 people have left the labor force in the last year.

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