Unemployment rose in the Quad Cities during February to 6.1 per cent, from 4.1 per cent a year ago.
Tom Austin from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, says the number of people considered unemployed went up while the number of people working went down.
"Those declines are what we would expect when we look at the pandemic, especially affecting such industries as leisure and hospitality, as well as retail trade."
Other job losses occurred in government, manufacturing, and professional and business services.
When the pandemic began, Quad Cities unemployment jumped to 15 per cent in March of last year, then began falling - to 11 per cent in June, 7 per cent in September, and 5 per cent in December. It rose though in January to 6.8 per cent, then went down four-tenths in February.
