Peoria MSA unemployment rate rose slightly in December to 11.2% compared to 10.8% in November (a .4% increase = approx 800 people). 

 Jim McConoughey, President & CEO of The Heartland Partnership says the regional unemployment rates have remained fairly steady from August-December which indicates a recessionary stabilization rate.  “This region experienced its largest unemployment rate in July 2009 at 12.3% which was partially in due to temporary layoffs and furloughs.  We have seen unemployment stabilize over the past 5 months and will remain around this rate until employers begin to re-hire or create new jobs.”

State and national unemployment rates also rose last month.  Illinois unemployment was 10.8% for December compared to 10.5% in November.  The national average was 9.7% in December up from 8.4% in November.

The average unemployment rate for the Peoria MSA in 2009 was 10.1% compared to 5.7% in 2008.  McConoughey says if you compare year to year, our labor force has essentially stayed the same.  “This means people are not moving out of town as they did in the 1980’s.  We have 9,000 more people unemployed in our community than last year; however they are staying in the region and optimistic that jobs will soon return.”

The majority of the job loss was in the manufacturing industry and the durable goods sector felt the biggest impact.  While manufacturing has taken a significant hit it is still one of the region’s top industries along with logistics and healthcare.  Healthcare and logistics have remained stable through this economic recession.  “We learned a valuable lesson in the 1980’s and that was to diversify our economy and these two other industries (healthcare and logistics) have tremendously helped to stabilize the local economy” according to McConoughey.