Mercer County unemployment remains steady at 4.4 percent. The number is for June and is similar to the same figure recorded a year ago. Unemployment also steady compared to year over year levels in Henderson, Henry, Knox, Rock Island and Warren County. Statewide the unemployment rate is 4.5 percent with nine metro areas seeing year over year job gains says Bob Gough with the Illinois Department of Employment Security, but the unemployment rate fell in only six of the metro areas.
The national unemployment rate is 4.2 percent. The highest unemployment rate in the region is 6.1 percent in Fulton County.