Unemployment is down significantly in Springfield compared to a year ago… but unfortunately, so is the total number of jobs.
State figures for April put the local jobless rate at 3.2 percent… down from 3.8 percent in April of 2017 and tied for the second lowest rate among all major metropolitan areas around Illinois.
But Springfield lost 1400 jobs over that twelve-month period, the sharpest decline of any metro area in the state. The biggest category of job loss was in the retail sector.