With less than three months to go until the November elections, July’s statewide unemployment rate has given incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn reason to boast.The preliminary seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell for a fifth consecutive month to 6.8 percent from 7.1 in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Illinois Department of Employment Security. One year ago, the state’s unemployment rate was 9.2 percent, marking the largest over-the-year decline in 30 years.Employers added 11,200 private-sector jobs during July — or 10,300 when government losses are included. What sets last month’s gains apart from the previous four is that growth was due to actual job creation instead of a shrinking workforce, wrote Crain’s Chicago Business‘ Greg Hinz. Additionally, there are 35,600 more nonfarm payroll positions than a year ago, though individuals who have dropped out of the workforce are not included in the statistics.
The last time Illinois saw its unemployment rate at 6.8 percent was in September 2008; the same month the subprime mortgage crisis kicked into high gear with the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy.
Perhaps the best news came out of the manufacturing sector, which finally added 3,900 new jobs after a seven-month losing streak. Industries that also had notable gains were professional and business services (5,900) and construction (1,900). Conversely, the largest job losers were in leisure and hospitality (-3,800), government (-900) and information (-500).
Here’s a breakdown of preliminary figures for each industry:
Illinois currently lags 0.6 percentage points behind the national unemployment rate of 6.2 percent, which inched up from 6.1 in June. A major reason for the five-figure job growth could be attributed to the peak of summer; it will be interesting to see how hiring fluctuates when fall arrives.
“The falling unemployment rate seems to be picking up momentum with the warmer weather. That is encouraging even though we know there still is room for improvement,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said in a press release. “The unevenness in this recovery masks the very promising news of averaging more than 4,400 new jobs each month during the past four years. We need to build on that job growth so that we can help others.”
As expected, Quinn quickly touted July’s jobless numbers during a news conference at a manufacturing plant and through Twitter.
While Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner made no mention of the unemployment report on Twitter, his campaign spokesman, Mike Schrimpf, said it’s too soon to rejoice, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Celebrating today’s job numbers is like cheering a touchdown when you’re down 35 points with two minutes left, said Schrimpf.”
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Kevin Hoffman is a Reboot Illinois staff writer who graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in journalism, political science and international studies. He believes keeping citizens informed and politicians in check is the best way to improve Illinois and bring about common sense reform. Follow us on Facebook.