Jobless Rate in Illinois Hit 10.5 Percent in September

By Anna Deem in News on Oct 17, 2009 7:00PM

Last year at this time, the state's unemployment rate was 6.7 percent. As of September, the jobless rate in Illinois has already increased to 10.5 percent, after dropping slightly down to 10 percent in August, according to statistics that were released on Friday. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported that the three-month unemployment average rose 0.1 percent to 10.3 percent, marking its highest level since December 1983. In comparison to the entire county, the U.S. jobless rate rose to 9.8 percent in September, from 9.7 percent in August, also the highest since 1983.

University of Illinois economist, Fred Giertz, spoke to the Chicago Sun Times about the "lagging indicator" in unemployment, expressing that as the economy begins to grow again, it still takes time for employment to properly catch up. Productivity actually increased during the recession so that "even as we start expanding output again" we don't need quite as many people as in the past," Giertz explained.

Unfortunately, things may be a bit worse for the state of Illinois, as the reported figures only count individuals that are actively looking for work, not those that have given up completely, Geoffrey Hemings, the director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory at the University of Illinois, told the Sun Times. If those extra people are taken into consideration, the unemployment rate skyrockets to 12.6 percent for August, Hemings said.

Greg Rivara, the spokeman for the unemployment security department, reported to the Sun Times that Illinois lost 14,200 non-farm jobs in September, although the rate of job loss has been gradually declining. Hemings said that overall Illinois lost 306,000 jobs from August 2008 to August 2009.