Unemployment increased in the Quad Cities in July - rising from 5.4 per cent a year ago to 5.6 per cent last month. And of the 13 major metro areas in Illinois, ours was the only one where the rate went up.
Tom Austin from the Illinois Department of Employment Security says the manufacturing sector was the main culprit.
"There were job losses in leisure and hospitality, education and health services, manufacturing, and retail. In the local economy we're seeing a little more difficulty in the manufacturing sector and that's affecting the other sectors in the region."
The only increases occurred in government and construction, but both increases were small.
The total number of people working in the Quad Cities in July dropped by 42-hundred, compared to the same month a year ago.
For the Quad Cities, an unemployment rate of 5.6 per cent translates into 10,700 people out of work and looking for jobs.
