CHICAGO (AP) _ The Illinois Department of Employment Security says unemployment decreased in five Illinois metro areas in July but increased in four downstate areas.
The department said Thursday that unemployment increased in Danville, Decatur, Springfield and the Metro East area just outside St. Louis. The largest increase was in Decatur where unemployment rose from 11 percent in July 2011 to 11.6 percent last month.
Unemployment dropped in the Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, Kankakee-Bradley, Lake-Kenosha, Peoria and Rockford areas. In the state's three remaining metro areas, joblessness was flat.
Chicago-are unemployment fell from 10.8 percent to 9.2 percent. Department Director Jay Rowell calls the report a sign of the continued unevenness of the economic recovery. The department last week said statewide unemployment increased slightly in July to 8.9 percent.