Unemployment in the capital city inched higher when compared to last year, mainly due to the loss of government jobs. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.2% in the Springfield metro area this July, compared with 8 percent last July.
But Illinois Department of Employment Security spokesman Greg Rivara says other areas, such as professional business services and manufacturing, have shown improvement. Rivara says Illinois has added more than 140,000 private sector jobs since January 2010, but as lost 35,000 government jobs.
