Although it's a big improvement from when the pandemic began, unemployment in the Quad Cities rose in December to 5.1 per cent, from 4.4 per cent during the same month a year ago.
Tom Austin from the Illinois Department of Employment Security says the number of people unemployed went up while the number of people employed went down.
"It's led by industries such as government employment, as well as professional and business services, and education and health services. We're also still seeing declines when we look at leisure and hospitality - an industry that's been somewhat hard hit when we look at the pandemic."
This area lost 2,500 jobs in government, and 1,700 in both professional and business services and education and health care. But there was a small gain in construction.
Unemployment peaked in the Quad Cities last March at 15 per cent, then has gradually fallen - to 11 per cent in June, 8 per cent in August, 7 per cent in September, and now 5.1 per cent in December.
