04/16/2014
Brendan Bond
Illinois’ unemployment rate in February was 8.7 percent, which was the second highest in the nation ahead of only Rhode Island. But when looking at the 102 counties in Illinois, only 18 counties actually had an unemployment rate lower than the state’s rate of 8.7 percent. That means 84 counties had an unemployment rate of 8.7 or higher…and in some cases much higher. What gives?
According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES), the 8.7 percent figure put out by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a seasonally adjusted rate, taking in to account season jobs. For the Illinois counties’ unemployment rate, IDES uses the non-seasonally adjusted rate, which in February in Illinois was 9.4 percent.
At least the 25 counties with the lowest unemployment rates in Illinois were all below that. You can check those out below, along with the counties with the 25 highest unemployment rates.
Here is the map of January’s rates to compare the February rates below to.
North Shore suburbs Glenview and Northbrook finished 1-2 in the race for cities with the lowest unemployment rates in February, while Round Lake Beach has the highest unemployment rate at nearly 17 percent.
Of course, the biggest employment hub in the state is the city of Chicago. So while Cook County didn’t make either list above and Chicago wasn’t in the top or bottom ten cities, no conversation about jobs in the state would be complete without a mention of the nation’s third-largest city. Below are some more articles on Chicago to keep the job conversation rolling.
NEXT ARTICLE: Chicago is the fourth-best city in the country for millennials
What’s next in the Chicago pension reform effort? Is it fair to compare Chicago and Detroit?
Illinois Senate President John Cullerton makes a candid confession in this op-ed.
Follow this timeline of the perfect storm that created Illinois’ statewide pension disaster.
Brendan Bond is an editorial assistant at Reboot Illinois. He is a graduate of Loyola University, where he majored in journalism. Brendan takes a look each day at the Land of Lincoln Lowdown and it’s often pretty low. He examines the property tax rates that drive Illinoisans insane. You can find Reboot on Facebook at and on Twitter @rebootillinois. His email is Brendan.Bond@rebootillinois.com.