Jobless rate in Q-C up to 5.6%
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By Doug Schorpp | Monday, March 10, 2008 |
The Quad-City unemployment rate jumped to 5.6 percent for January, from 4.8 percent in December, according to figures released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Security. In January 2007, the jobless rate was 5 percent.
But, according to Tom Austin, labor analyst for the agency, the changes are not unexpected. Payrolls — especially in retail — were increased through the fourth quarter to account for holiday shopping, with normal layoffs occurring in January. Also, the number of outdoor construction jobs traditionally contracts in January because of winter conditions.
“That is why typically we see change from December to January,” he said.
The 5.6 percent unemployment rate in the Quad-City market — which includes Henry, Mercer and Rock Island counties in Illinois and Scott County in Iowa — is not seasonally adjusted. In other words, Austin said it does not take into account seasonal factors such as post-holiday reductions and construction slowdown.
However, the matching 5.6 percent rate for the state of Illinois is seasonally adjusted, meaning those aspects already are factored in.
Austin said the higher rate also can be explained in part because more people are entering the labor market. That also will increase the unemployment rate because more people enter the pool of eligible workers.
“And the amount of hiring has not necessarily kept pace with those entering labor force,” he said. “But we continue to see job growth when looking at non-farm payrolls. We are seeing growth over the year. We are matching the state unemployment rate and have been tracking below it. But we are still seeing job growth, which points to positive aspects of the (local) economy.”
In the metro area, Scott County again saw the lowest unemployment rate, 4.6 percent, up from 4.4 percent in January 2007. Rock Island County grew from 5.2 percent a year ago to 6 percent in January 2008.
Total payroll jobs for January increased over the year in all metro areas, with the exception of Danville, Ill., which was essentially unchanged, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics
In the Quad-Cities, 1,300 jobs have been added since January 2007. The area continued to experience strong growth in the professional-business services sector, which contributed to the annual gains in total non-farm employment, Austin said. Employment also expanded in the education, health services, construction, information and government sectors from January 2007. Manufacturing, transportation-warehousing, utilities, leisure-hospitality and wholesale trade employment experienced declines from their year-ago levels.
Doug Schorpp can be contacted at (563) 383-2292 or dschorpp@qctimes.com.
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