Unemployment fell across most of South Central Illinois in December.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Marion County’s unemployment fell four tenths of a percent to 4.2 percent. The rate is also four-tenths of a percent lower than a year ago. The number of unemployed totaled 763. The county’s labor force increased to 16,561.
The lowest unemployment rate in the region is in Washington County, where the rate dropped three-tenths of a percent to 2.1 percent. Clinton County’s unemployment fell two-tenths of a percent to 2.7-percent. Jefferson County’s rate now at 4.1-percent, a half-percent drop. Clay County’s rate fell four-tenths of a percent to 4.6-percent. The only increased rate is in Fayette County, where unemployment was up a tenth of a percent to 4.4-percent.
The Illinois Department of Job Security reports there was a decrease in overall jobs in the Centralia-Mt. Vernon labor market. The biggest increases in employment were in private education-health services up 175 jobs and professional-business services up 100 jobs. The top payroll decreases were in manufacturing, down 225 jobs, and trade-transportation-utilities also down 225 jobs.
Illinois unemployment rate for December is 4.3-percent, up a tenth of a percent from last December.
