Unemployment increases in 8 Illinois metro areas

CHICAGO - Jobless rates for eight metropolitan areas in Illinois increased slightly during July compared to the same month a year ago.

The numbers from the Illinois Department of Employment Security released Thursday show a decrease in unemployment in four metropolitan areas.

The Kankakee-Bradley area had the biggest rise in employment between last month and July 2009. Its rate climbed 1.7 percentage points to 13.5 percent. Rockford continued to have the highest unemployment in Illinois with a rate of 15.7 percent. That's up from 14.8 percent in June.

Peoria saw the largest drop in unemployment, recording 10.5 percent in June compared with 12.8 percent a year ago.

The lowest unemployment rates of 8.4 percent were in Bloomington-Normal and Davenport-Moline-Rock Island.