CHICAGO (AP) - Unemployment increased in all but three of Illinois' 14 metropolitan areas during December and six of the regions reported having fewer jobs available.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday in its monthly metro-area report that the Danville and Decatur areas had the highest monthly rates at 7.4 percent, followed by the Rockford area at 7.2 percent and the Peoria and Kankakee areas at 7.0 percent.
The Peoria rate rose 0.8 percentage points over December 2014.
The agency says the only areas without higher unemployment rates were Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island area on the border with Iowa and the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. Each of their rates was unchanged from December 2014.
The Lake County-Kenosha area on the border with Wisconsin lost the most jobs, at 5,100.
