From State Rep. Dan Ugaste:
Year-to-year unemployment rate increased in 11 of Illinois’ 12 metro areas
| From December 2024 to December 2025, Illinois’ overall unemployment rate rose from 4.3% to 4.8% when counted by metro area. This increase hit every metro area except Chicago, where the non-farm unemployment rate remained steady at 4.4%. All other regions of Illinois, including Lake County, Elgin/Kane County and nine large Downstate Illinois metro areas, showed jobless increases of 1.1% or more in 2025. The published numbers for December 2025 signaled a possible return to recession-level jobless numbers in Kankakee (6.7% unemployment), Decatur (6.6%), Rockford (6.2%) and the Quad Cities (6.1%). While the metro Chicago area, centered on Cook and adjacent DuPage County, created an estimated 28,800 net new payroll jobs in 2025, every other region of Illinois lost jobs during the same period. For example, there was a net loss of 3,000 jobs in Metro Peoria, the largest Illinois metro area between greater Chicago and eastern St. Louis. Peoria, with its historic worker connection to construction machinery and off-road vehicles, was also affected by changes in U.S and global manufacturing patterns |
