Tom Austin from the Illinois Department of Employment Security says this area added a total of 7,400 jobs during the past year - in leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, manufacturing, and retail. A few jobs were lost in education and health services.
"Overall when we see the unemployment rate continue to drop, as well as strong job growth when we look over the year, it points to some positive signs when we look at the local economy. That we are seeing kind of a broad-based improvement when we look at employment opportunities."
Since January, the unemployment rate has fallen from 5.3 per cent, to 4.6 in February, 4.3 in March, and now 3.7 per cent in April.
Also last month, unemployment fell in all 14 Illinois metropolitan areas, and the state created more than 230,000 jobs during the past year.