By Kiah Haslett |
Decatur and Peoria saw a spike in their unemployment rate in December
from the year-ago period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’
latest data released Wednesday.

Decatur, headquarters of Archer Daniels Midland Co., posted a 5.1
percent increase in joblessness in the 12 months since December 2008,
bringing its jobless rate to 12.9 percent. Peoria, home of Caterpillar
Inc. and Ameren Illinois Utilities, had a 5 percent increase, to 11.2
percent.

The rate increases largely were attributed to the 1,526 positions Caterpillar cut in March 2009, both in Peoria and Decatur. The data also include furloughs.

“There were significant layoffs at Caterpillar due to the loss of international business, and that had a primary- and secondary-tier effect on suppliers,” said Craig Coil, president of the Economic Development Corp. of Decatur and Macon County. “We think that’s bottomed out because Caterpillar is now calling people back, and that’s a positive sign.”

The Chicago-Naperville-Joliet area reported 182,300 jobs were cut in December from the year-ago month, a 4.3 percent decrease in employment. The metro area led the nation in nonfarm payroll employment decreases, ahead of California’s Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana and Michigan’s Detroit-Warren-Livonia regions.

On Tuesday, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported the state unemployment rate jumped to 11.3 percent in January from a revised rate of 11 percent in December, the highest since August 1983.

The Illinois jobless rate compares to a national rate of 9.7 percent reported for both January and February. Since the recession began in December 2007, Illinois has lost 407,000 jobs, while the national as a whole has lost 8.4 million.