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Local Lawmaker Calls Unemployment Rates Good News, Bad News Situation

While the July unemployment rate for the Decatur area dropped 3.5 percent from a year ago, a local lawmaker says it’s a good news/bad news situation.

Forsyth State Representative Bill Mitchell says while the good news is the rate went down from 13% to 9.5%, the bad news is that in that 1 year period the county lost 300 jobs. He feels Illinois has a one size fits all economic development plan.

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Unemployment across the area is down, however the representative believes there are less jobs across the state, which means "things are not good". He feels the state needs to address this problem.

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And though the area saw the largest drop among the 11 other metropolitan areas in Illinois, the jobless rate ties with Danville for the highest in the state.

Macon County's unemployment increased also to 9.5% in July, however, it has been below the double-digit threshold for the past few months after a long stretch of one of the state's highest unemployed areas.

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