Local unemployment rates went down from January to February. The Illinois Department of Employment Security says the LaSalle County rate dropped from 8.5% to 7.4%. For Bureau County, it fell from 7.3% to 6.3%. And for Putnam County, it was 7.2% and then 6.5%. Combining all three counties, the rate was 8.2% in January and 7.1% in February.
It means about one in 14 people who wanted work didn’t have it. While the rates are going down, they’re not as low as they were in February last year. For all three counties, the rate was 4.9%.