Mostly positive news on the employment front for the Stateline area from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Job growth in the region continues to be some of the strongest in the state, but the area also continues to shed high-paying manufacturing jobs.
The Rockford region added an estimated 2000 jobs over the past year, reducing the metropolitan area’s unemployment rate from 7.1% in October, 2015 to 6.0% in October, 2016. It’s the lowest unemployment rate in the region in ten years.
However, the overwhelming majority of those job gains have come in the Professional-Business Services sector, up 2300 jobs in the past year, while Manufacturing (-300 jobs) and Construction (-200 jobs) continue to see declines. That could potentially mean the region is adding lower paying service industry jobs while losing manufacturing and construction positions which typically pay more.
Here are the latest unemployment rates for the Northern Illinois region from IDES.
|
Rockford MSA |
Oct-16 |
Oct-15 |
Over the Year Change | |
|
Boone County |
5.5% |
6.2% |
-0.7 | |
|
Winnebago County |
6.2% |
7.3% |
-1.1 | |
|
Cities |
| |||
|
Belvidere City |
6.3% |
7.5% |
-1.2 | |
|
Freeport City |
6.2% |
7.5% |
-1.3 | |
|
Rockford City |
7.3% |
8.7% |
-1.4 | |
|
Counties |
| |||
|
Bureau County |
5.5% |
6.4% |
-0.9 | |
|
Carroll County |
4.7% |
5.0% |
-0.3 | |
|
DeKalb County |
4.8% |
5.6% |
-0.8 | |
|
Henry County |
5.8% |
6.5% |
-0.7 | |
|
JoDaviess County |
4.3% |
5.2% |
-0.9 | |
|
Kane County |
4.9% |
5.7% |
-0.8 | |
|
Lee County |
4.6% |
5.2% |
-0.6 | |
|
McHenry County |
5.0% |
4.6% |
0.4 | |
|
Ogle County |
5.2% |
5.9% |
-0.7 | |
|
Stephenson County |
5.4% |
6.4% |
-1.0 | |
|
Whiteside County |
5.6% |
6.4% |
-0.8 |
