Unemployment dropped in the Quad Cities in May. The jobless rate fell to 3.5% last month, compared to 4% in May last year.
Tom Austin, from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, says our area gained 1,600 jobs in professional-business services and 700 manufacturing jobs. Compared to May last year, other areas of job growth were in leisure and hospitality, plus education and health services.
But we lost jobs in retail trade, construction, and wholesale trade.
Austin says the last time the May jobless rate was this low in the Quad Cities was in May, 2000, when it was slightly lower at 3.4%.
The May, 2018 unemployment rate of 3.5% means around 6,700 people were out of work and looking for jobs in the Quad Cities.