Unemployment Down, Still Falls Short Compared to 2019

The unemployment rate dropped last month in Illinois, as the state’s jobless rate fell nearly a full percentage point in June. The Illinois Department of Employment Security says close to 143 thousand jobs were added last month. However, that’s a decrease of almost 600,000 jobs in Illinois compared to June of 2019 when COVID-19 wasn’t a factor. The national unemployment rate last month came in at 11.1 percent.