The Mercer County unemployment rate currently at 7.7 percent. The number is for February and represents a six-point increase from the same period a year ago. Unemployment is also up from year over year levels in Henry, Rock Island, Henderson, Warren and Knox counties. In the region last month, the largest employment gains were in the Manufacturing (+1,400), Professional-Business Services (+700), Construction (+300), and Transportation-Warehousing-Utilities (+200) sectors with the largest job declines in the Government (-500) and Retail Trade (-400) sectors. Statewide, the over the year job growth in most of the state’s 14 metro areas is always a good sign says Bob Gough with the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
The Illinois unemployment rate sits at 4.7 percent with the national rate at 4.1 percent. The highest unemployment rate in the region is 7.9 percent in Henderson County.