Bad data snuffs optimism on Kane Co. economic reports

New numbers show Kane County residents finished 2009 spending more time in the unemployment line and less time living the American dream.

Figures released by Kane County Circuit Clerk Deb Seyller's office show the county's recent optimism about a positive trend in home foreclosures to close out the year was based on bogus data.

"Previously reported numbers, not released by my office, were compiled without taking into consideration the shortage of staff in my office to the (foreclosure) filings," Seyller said in a written report.

In other words, Seyller's office had not yet entered all the foreclosure filings for the end of 2009 when the county reported a positive trend. In fact, foreclosures didn't just skyrocket at the end of the year as they typically do, but the number of people losing their homes topped 5,000 for the first time since the mortgage collapse began in 2005.

Kane County's Scott Berger originally reported the optimistic news of a downtrend in foreclosures just a couple weeks ago. He now said that optimism has burned out.

"Unfortunately, the additional numbers indicate that there actually was an increase in foreclosure filings in the fourth quarter," Berger said. "That's just the situation the economy is in now. There is so much foreclosure volume. It's certainly not the direction we want to see things go."

All told, foreclosure filings were up 26 percent in 2009 over the previous year.

Finding employment also proved more difficult for local residents than any time in the past five years. The number of unemployed residents of Kane, Kendall and DeKalb Counties combined remained at or above 35,000 for 2009, about 10,000 more than at any time in 2008.

Like foreclosures, unemployment grew at the end of the year. After a slight drop in the third quarter, the number of people in the unemployment line ticked up to 10.5 percent in the fourth quarter. That is the second highest in the last five years, behind the 10.9 percent jobless rate on the second quarter of 2009.

Only three industries in the local economy began to employ more workers to close out 2009: retail, leisure and hospitality and government. Of those three, government employed a larger portion of the work force than any other industry in the area at the end of the year.