CHICAGO (AP) — Unemployment across Illinois inched lower in April, the eighth consecutive monthly decrease, but job growth all but stalled, according to a report from the state Department of Employment Security released Thursday.

Statewide unemployment fell to 8.7 percent, down from 8.8 percent in March, the department said in its regular monthly report on joblessness in Illinois. The national jobless rate was 8.1 percent in April, the federal government said last week.

Illinois employers created just 100 more jobs than they cut in April, and most of the growth was in the manufacturing sector and among firms in the professional and business-services sector. The latter includes many temporary jobs, and experts say they're signals that employers are still uneasy about the economy.

Continue Reading for Free

Register and gain access to:

  • Breaking benefits news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical converage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.

Employee Participation