The Illinois Department of Employment Security says year-to-year unemployment rates have declined for all but one of the state’s metropolitan areas in 2016.
According to data released by IDES, all metro areas saw an unemployment decrease in 2016 except for the Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights area, which remained unchanged. The largest decrease was seen in the Illinois section of the St. Louis metro area, with an unemployment rate of 4.9 percent in 2016, compared to 6.6 percent in 2015.
The Elgin metro area saw the largest increase in added jobs in 2016, with 3,600 jobs added, while the Champaign-Urbana metro area gained 2,100 jobs and Kankakee gained 500 jobs.