Unemployment rates fell statewide in February but saw a slight uptick in the Peoria Metro region. Unemployment was the lowest it’s been since 2009 in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville Metro region.
The nine percent unemployment rate is based on preliminary numbers released Thursday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, and compare February 2014 to the prior year.
Illinois businesses added jobs in four metro areas. Both the Peoria and Bloomington regions are listed as top job loss areas. The Bloomington region lost about 19-hundred jobs and Peoria saw a decrease of 33-hundred positions. Both numbers represent about two percent reductions year over year.
The statement from the department of employment security says many of the job reductions are the result of the temporary slowdown in global manufacturing demand.
The biggest job growth industry sectors in the state were Leisure and Hospitality and Wholesale Trade.