Big Drop In Local Unemployment Rate For September

McHenry County's unemployment rate dropped .7 percent in September to an even 7 percent according to the latest local report Thursday from the Illinois Department of Employment Security.  The improvement came not only from fewer people still looking for work but also from more people working.  McHenry County's monthly decrease in unemployment was the same as in DuPage County.  Both were .1 percent behind the decreases in Lake and Kane counties.

The county numbers don't reflect seasonal variation. Nevertheless they all broadly showed about a two percent improvement in unemployment from the same time last year, somewhat better than  unadjusted 1.7 percent improvement over the period for the state overall .  Unadjusted Illinois' unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in September.  Allowing for seasonal swings it was 8.8 percent, though.  U.S. unadjusted unemployment was down to 7.6 percent for September. Fine-tuned it was 7.8.

September 2012 job gains were driven by Professional and Business Services and Leisure and Hospitality sectors, according to IDES number crunchers.

A spokesman said there are 120,000 help-wanted ads on Illinoisjoblink.com, the IDES employment website that links job seekers with employers. The site, not surprisingly, emphasizes Illinois jobs.

                            UNEMPLOYMENT (unadjusted)             
               REVISED      Aug 2012    PRELIMINARY        Sept 2012               
               LABOR    UNEMPLOYED      LABOR     UNEMPLOYED    Sept 
               FORCE    NUMBER  RATE    FORCE     NUMBER  RATE  2011   
U.S. (X1000)   155,255  12,696   8.2    155,075   11,742   7.6   8.8
ILLINOIS     6,576,581 587,094   8.9  6,624,933  536,647   8.1   9.8   

MCHENRY COUNTY 175,527  13,446   7.7    177,031   12,461   7.0   8.9    
KANE COUNTY    274,660  22,195   8.1    276,591   20,249   7.3   9.3    
LAKE COUNTY    359,641  31,589   8.8    359,404   28,757   8.0   9.1
DUPAGE COUNTY  525,131  37,754   7.2    529,293   34,431   6.5   8.1

ALGONQUIN       16,854   1,287   7.6     16,998    1,192   7.0   8.9   
LITH            16,943   1,360   8.0     17,010    1,188   7.0   9.0    
CRYSTAL LAKE    22,070   1,788   8.1     22,303    1,709   7.7   9.2    
MCHENRY         15,315   1,217   7.9     15,442    1,128   7.3   9.5