Factory jobs take a March dip, but stocks up in April

BusinessRockford.com

Economic scorecard

Blue-collar jobs steady
The number of workers in manufacturing jobs in Boone and Winnebago counties stayed at 34,000 in March, the third straight month the Illinois Department of Employment Security estimated that the sector neither added or cut workers.

That’s good news overall, considering that Chrysler cut 1,100 workers from its Belvidere assembly plant at the beginning of the month. The plant is the area’s largest manufacturing employer.

Still, the number of manufacturing jobs was down year-over-year for the ninth straight month.

Star 60 in recovery mode
The Register Star’s stock index closed April above 800 for the first time in three months, although the index remained below its April 2007 close.

The index was up from February despite the decline of AMCORE Financial’s stock price after the company reported a first-quarter loss. The only Winnebago County-based company on the index saw its stock close April at $12.44, down 57 percent from its ending April 2007 price of $28.61.

The Register Star added Thermo Fisher Scientific to the index in April in place of Quebecor, which is reorganizing in bankruptcy courts in Canada and the U.S.