The Illinois Department of Employment Security says May was the fifteenth month in a row that unemployment rates fell in every metro area in the state compared to a year ago. Rates also fell in all of Illinois’s 102 counties.
Department Director Jeff Mays noted that three metro areas in northeastern Illinois, including the Elgin area at 4.8 percent, Lake-Kenosha and Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights metro areas, had returned to pre-recession unemployment rates.
The Rockford area’s rate was 5.9 percent, down from 7.8 percent in May of 2014. The IDES says the Rockford also saw a net increase of 1,600 jobs over the year.