Unemployment dropped sharply in the Quad Cities last month. The Illinois Department of Employment Security says it fell from 5.4 per cent a year ago, to 4.5 per cent in June - nearly one percentage point.
Labor Market Analyst, Tom Austin, says we continued to lose jobs in manufacturing, but there was a net gain of 800 jobs here thanks to construction, and especially in health care.
"And that industry really offers a lot of opportunity at a variety of skill levels. You're going to have people preparing food, you're going to have people fixing the building, as well as a variety of medical individuals who deal with patients. As that industry grows, it offers a lot of employment opportunity."
The June unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent means 8,600 people in the Quad Cities area were out of work and looking for jobs. And that's an increase from just last month, when the 4.1 per cent rate in May meant 7,800 people were considered unemployed.
Rates fell in all 14 Illinois metro areas surveyed by the state, and all but two counties.
