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Economy

QC Unemployment Shows Slight Improvement

Unemployment in the Quad Cities continued at historically high levels last month, but showed a little improvement from April. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reports the jobless rate in May was 14.1 per cent, up from just 3.5 per cent during the same month a year ago.

Spokesman Tom Austin says during the past year, this area lost 20,000 jobs.

"We're still seeing the effects of the COVID-19 issue, especially on leisure and hospitality, professional and business services, government, and manufacturing, as well as retail trade industries experienced the largest declines when we compare it over the year." 

The only category to show improvement was construction.

The May unemployment rate of 14.1 per cent was slightly lower than April's rate of 15.2 per cent, but it was also the highest rate ever for the month of May.  

A native of Detroit, Herb Trix began his radio career as a country-western disc jockey in Roswell, New Mexico (“KRSY, your superkicker in the Pecos Valley”), in 1978. After a stint at an oldies station in Topeka, Kansas (imagine getting paid to play “Louie Louie” and “Great Balls of Fire”), he wormed his way into news, first in Topeka, and then in Freeport Illinois.