New unemployment numbers are out and they show a sharp drop from where figures stood a year ago in May. Vermilion County’s jobless rate for May of this year was 5.8 percent. The county’s unemployment level tumbled 9-percent from a year ago according to new numbers released Thursday. But the figures have not been seasonally adjusted yet.
Vermilion County’s jobless rate had been 14.8 percent in May of 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Illinois Department of Employment Security.
The unemployment rate decreased over-the-year in all fourteen of Illinois’ metropolitan areas. The jobless rate for the city of Danville was 7.2 percent last month. It had been 17-percent a year ago.
In Champaign County the May unemployment rate of 4.4 percent is down from 10.5 percent a year ago. In Edgar County the May jobless rate of 3.6 percent is down from 12.7 percent in May of 2020. In Iroquois County the May 2021 unemployment rate was 3.8 percent. It had been 9.1 percent in May of last year.
In Vermilion County the Leisure-Hospitality Sector added 500 jobs from a year ago. There were 400 more people working in the county in the Manufacturing and Professional-Business Services categories this May compared to last May. Retail Trade in the county gained 200 workers, the Transportation-Warehousing-Utilities category and Government sectors each gained 100 jobs from their May 2020 level.
