Local Unemployment Still High, But Improving

SPRINGFIELD – The latest county unemployment numbers have been released by the state, and they show strong job gains.  LaSalle County improved nearly 5 percentage points, from an unemployment rate in May of 18.4% to 13.5% in June.  Bureau County has one of the lowest rates in the area, only at 10%, an improvement from 13.7% in May.  The numbers though are much worse than a year ago due to the pandemic and the resultant lockdown.  Last year in June, the LaSalle County unemployment rate was near a historic low of 4.7%