Unemployment fell by a tenth of a percentage point to 5.4 percent in Marion County in March. The rate is still seven-tenths of a percent higher than a year ago. The 5.4 percent unemployment translates into 703 on unemployment, down from 868 in February. The county’s workforce also dropped by 145 people to 15,078.
The lowest unemployment in the region is in Clinton and Washington Counties at 3.9 percent, both down from February but up 0.8 percent from a year ago.
Jefferson County’s unemployment is at 5.8 percent, down three-tenths of a percent from February but up 1.3 percent from a year ago.
Clay County’s unemployment fell six-tenths of a percent to 5.2 percent in March. That is half a percentage point higher than in March a year ago.
Fayette County’s unemployment fell a half percent to 6.1 percent, up 1.6 percent from March a year ago.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported a loss of 350 jobs from a year ago in the Mt. Vernon-Centralia labor market. The biggest gains were 300 jobs in private education and health services and 150 in government services. The biggest job losses were in professional-business services, down 275 jobs; trade-transportation-utilities, down 200 jobs; and manufacturing, down 150 jobs.
The statewide unemployment rate for March was 5.2 percent, up half a percent from March a year ago.
