For the second month in a row unemployment rates are up across East Central Illinois. New numbers from the Illinois Department of Employment Security show Vermilion County’s jobless rate rose from 4.7 percent in June to 5.4 in July. Danville’s unemployment rate also rose…reaching 6.5 percent in July. It had been 5.3 percent in June.
Elsewhere across the area, Champaign County’s jobless rate rose from 3.8 percent in June to 4.2 percent in July. In Edgar County the unemployment rate was 3.8 percent in June, but climbed to 4.2 in July. In Iroquois County the jobless rate also rose slightly…going from 3.4 to 3.7 percent last month.
Jobless rates across the region are down, however, from where they stood a year ago. Danville’s July unemployment rate of 6.5 percent, for example, compares to 8.2 percent a year ago. And the 6.6 percent unemployment rate for Vermilion County last month is 1.2 percent lower than a year ago.
According to the report Vermilion County gained 300 jobs in the Retail Trade category over the past year. Jobs in the Financial Services category rose by 200 in Vermilion County since July of last year. And the Leisure & Hospitality, along with Professional & Business Services categories each gained 100 jobs. But a decline of 100 jobs was reported in the Educational & Health Services category in Vermilion County since this time a year ago.
