Aug. 27--The Chicago metro area's unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in July, from 7.4 percent a year ago, marking the 17th consecutive month in which the jobless rate fell in every metro area across the state.
Yet, "we are still concerned that the long-term unemployed are still having difficulty finding jobs while there were 205,700 online job postings by Illinois employers in July," Jeff Mays, director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security, said in a statement.
The data, which count people who are out of work and looking for work but not those who have given up, are not seasonally adjusted because they reflect year-over-year comparisons.
The Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights metro area added 56,200 new jobs, inching closer to its pre-recession unemployment rate of 5.4 percent in July 2007. Still, 232,600 people in the area remain unemployed.
Danville and Champaign-Urbana were the other metro areas with the greatest jump in jobs.
The Quad Cities, Peoria and Carbondale-Marion metro areas were among several that saw job declines even as their unemployment rates improved.
The city of Chicago's unemployment rate sank to 6.8 percent, from 8.1 percent last year.
Among cities, Harvey had the highest unemployment rate in July at 12.6 percent, followed by Dolton and East St. Louis.
aelejalderuiz@tribpub.com
