Signaling an end to 12 straight months of single-digit unemployment, the Illinois jobless rate crept to 10 percent in September — an increase of a tenth of a percentage point over August.
Illinois Department of Employment Security data shows the unemployment rise occurred despite the addition of 1,600 jobs last month.
The discrepancy indicates frustrated job-seekers have suspended the search for new employment.
Unemployment rates reflect the percentage of the workforce that have indicated in government surveys that they have applied for job benefits in a given month.
People working involuntarily in part-time jobs, the underemployed and the segment of the population that has stopped looking for work are not included in state and federal government employment figures.
The overall jobless rate swells to over 16 percent when those categories are added to the equation.
IDES director Jay Rowell said the September numbers are “not surprising.”
“Job growth at this stage in the economic cycle is often accompanied by a slight increase in the employment rate,” Rowell said in a statement. “But a broader confidence must be restored at the national level before individual states will show greater wide-spread growth.”
The Illinois unemployment rate had shown steady gains since peaking at 11.2 percent in January, 2010. At one point earlier this year, state joblessness dipped to 8.7 percent.
Attempting to brighten the picture, the labor agency noted the state has added 81,000 jobs in the 22 months since unemployment hit 11.2 percent.
Still, the IDES reports 663,300 Illlnois residents collected unemployment benefits in August.
Nationally, unemployment stands at 9.1 percent.
The September jobless rate in Missouri came in at 8.7 percent, a 31-month low.