Despite Knox County seeing a slight drop in unemployment, the City of Galesburg saw a slight increase in the last year.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security released the numbers for August on Thursday which saw the city’s workforce shrink by 147 people – causing the unemployment rate go from 5.5% to 5.6%.
While the city saw a decrease in the workforce, the unemployment number only increased by six in that time period.
According to the IDES, in August Knox County had lost over 300 people in the workforce compared to last year but still managed to decrease the unemployment rate from 5.1% to 5%.
The county trails the state average of 4.6% which ranks among the highest in the Midwest.
Neighboring counties of Henry(4.6%), Fulton(5.7%), Mercer(4.2%), Peoria (5.4%), and Stark(5.4%) all saw a decrease in their unemployment rate while McDonough(5.2%) and Warren(4.1%) counties stayed consistent.
A decrease in the workforce was observed in the Galesburg Micropolitan Area where a little over 300 fewer people working from last year to this year.
Looking at the larger Metropolitan Areas Peoria saw a workforce increase of over 200, while the Q-C saw over 1,200 join the labor force.
According to an IDES release, the three job sectors that saw the largest increase were: Professional and Business Services; Trade, Transportation, and Utilities; and Financial Activities
