Jobless rate falls in every Illinois metro area in February

The Illinois Department of Employment Security says jobless rates fell in every Illinois metro area in February. It was the 12th straight month of across-the-board improvement.

The department said Tuesday in its monthly report on the state’s metro areas that while nine of the 14 tracked areas added jobs in February, the Peoria, Bloomington, Carbondale-Marion and Quad Cities areas all lost jobs.

However, the Bloomington area still posted the lowest unemployment rate in the state last month at 5 percent. The highest was the 7.3 percent rate in the Decatur area.

Chicago-area unemployment fell to 6.6 percent in February from 8.8 percent a year earlier.

The department reported earlier this month that February unemployment across the state fell to 6.1 percent while the national jobless rate was at 5.5 percent.