The City of Galesburg saw a dip in its unemployment rate labor force from preliminary year-over-year numbers for the month of May.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security says that the city’s unemployment rate sits at 4.6 percent — down from 4.8 percent in 2018, a decrease in .2 percent.
This, however, is explained through a drop in both the unemployed and employed numbers – and a total decrease of 229 people to the city’s labor force. Specifically, the number of unemployed dropped by 32 and the number of employed by 197.
The labor force decrease dropped Knox County’s unemployment from 4.4 in May of 2018 to 4.3 percent for May of 2019.
The county saw a total labor force decreased by 388 people, with only 45 of that number coming from the unemployed.
According to the IDES, changes in Knox County and the Galesburg Micropolitan Statistical Area can be attributed to nonfarm payroll employment decreased by (-300). The largest gains occurred in Educational & Health Services (+100) and Manufacturing (+75). Declines were reported in Government (-100), while Financial Activities, Information, and Leisure & Hospitality each declined by (-50) from a year ago.
Other area counties that saw decreases in their unemployment include Fulton(4.8/5.3), Henry (4.1/4.2), McDonough(4.2/4.3), Peoria(4.4/4.9), and Stark(4.9/5.2) counties.
Warren(3.9/3.6) and Henderson(4.3/3.9) counties saw an increase in the unemployment rate while Mercer County(4.0) saw no change.
