Prairie State Wire

Over the past year, the unemployment rate fell in eleven metro areas while rising in one, as reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES) for the year ending February 2025. During the same period, seven metropolitan areas saw an increase in total nonfarm jobs, whereas five areas saw declines.

“Today’s data report continues to underscore the strength of Illinois’ labor market with unemployment dropping and increases in jobs across most metro areas over the year,” Deputy Governor Andy Manar stated. “Illinois remains laser-focused on encouraging business development and expanding economic opportunities throughout the state.”

According to the data, the Elgin Metropolitan Division saw a 2.3% increase in total nonfarm jobs, translating to 6,600 more jobs. Other areas with notable job increases included the Rockford MSA with a 1.2% rise, Kankakee MSA with a 0.9% rise, and Peoria MSA with a 0.9% rise. The Chicago-Naperville-Schaumburg Metropolitan Division experienced an increase of 18,600 jobs, or 0.5%. Conversely, the largest reductions in nonfarm jobs were observed in Bloomington MSA with a decrease of 2.2%, Decatur MSA with a 1.7% decrease, Champaign-Urbana MSA with a 1.5% decrease, and the Illinois section of Davenport-Moline-Rock Island IA-IL MSA also with a 1.5% decrease.

Industries with job growth across most of the twelve metro areas were Private Education and Health Services, Government, Retail Trade, and others including Mining and Construction, Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities, and Financial Activities.

The report highlighted significant drops in unemployment rates in the Rockford MSA by 1.2 points to 5.6%, the Elgin Metro Division by 1.1 points to 5.0%, the Lake County Metro Division by 1.1 points to 5.3%, and the Kankakee MSA by 1.0 point to 5.9%. The Chicago Metro Division was the only area to report an increase of 0.1 point, raising the rate to 5.3%.

IDES continues to offer key services to workers, jobseekers, and employers in Illinois through various platforms and resources like Job Fairs, IllinoisJobLink.com, and WorkShare IL. For a comprehensive list of services and the latest updates from IDES, visit their website at IDES.Illinois.gov.