Cities with the Highest and Lowest Unemployment Rates in July

Jobless rates fell for the 17th consecutive month in every metro area, and all 102 counties had fewer unemployed individuals compared to a year ago, according to preliminary data released today by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

While the not seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment now sits at 5.9 percent (5.8 percent when seasonally adjusted), IDES Director Jeff Mays said both the rate of job growth and the number of long-term unemployed in Illinois casts a shadow over the sliding statistics.

“The year-over-year statewide unemployment rate has declined from 7.3 percent to 5.9 percent and continues to fall in all metro areas,” Mays said. “However, we are still concerned that the long-term unemployed are still having difficulty finding jobs while there were 205,700 on-line job postings by Illinois employers in July.”

Here are the cities, counties and metro areas with the highest and lowest unemployment rates in July.

Like what you see here from Reboot Illinois? Then sign up for our daily email to get more great content right to your email inbox.