McHenry County August Unemployment Rate Falls As Schools Open

McHenry County's monthly unemployment rate fell .6 percent in August to 7.7 percent, according to the latest report from the Illinois Department of Employment Security Thursday.  It wasn't that more people went back to work, though.  In fact, the number of people working in August shrank by 1,312 but the number of people looking for work fell almost the same amount, 1,307.  In short, a lot of job seekers probably went back to school.

"A pattern developed last year of slowing job growth in the summer months followed by lower unemployment rates after school re-opened in the fall," IDES Director Jay Rowell said earlier this month. Illinois' unadjusted unemployment rate fell .4 percent from July to 8.9 percent but, allowing for seasonal variation, it was only down .2 percent from last month at 8.1 percent.  The U.S. raw rate was 8.2 percent, 8.1 percent adjusted.  Seasonal adjustments aren't made at the county level. 

On a relative basis, McHenry County had the 85th highest unemployment rate of all of Illinois' 102 counties in August.  A year ago it was only the 65th highest.

                            UNEMPLOYMENT (unadjusted)             
               REVISED      Jul 2012    PRELIMINARY         Aug 2012               
               LABOR    UNEMPLOYED      LABOR     UNEMPLOYED     Aug 
               FORCE    NUMBER  RATE    FORCE     NUMBER  RATE  2011   
U.S. (X1000)   156,526  13,400   8.6    155,255   12,696   8.2   9.1
ILLINOIS     6,667,626 617,544   9.3  6,579,197  587,452   8.9  10.3   

MCHENRY COUNTY 178,239  14,775   8.3    175,610   13,468   7.7   9.0    
KANE COUNTY    278,943  24,324   8.7    274,783   22,223   8.1  10.0    
LAKE COUNTY    365,711  32,762   9.0    359,456   31,601   8.8   9.5
DUPAGE COUNTY  532,168  40,632   7.6    525,381   37,821   7.2   8.5

ALGONQUIN       17,108   1,409   8.2     16,860    1,288   7.6   9.3   
LITH            17,195   1,479   8.6     16,953    1,364   8.0   9.3    
CRYSTAL LAKE    22,404   1,949   8.7     22,078    1,788   8.1   9.5    
MCHENRY         15,567   1,349   8.7     15,322    1,219   8.0   9.4