Unemployment rates hit near record levels

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The unemployment rate is up at one of the highest rates in history as of December '08 and January '09. The reports vary slightly, but all put the U.S. unemployment rate above 7.0%. The reports go as low as 7.2% but go as high as 7.7%. Either way, it is a tough time for the U.S. workforce. Job losses are totaling 2.6 million in the country. The unemployment rates have not been this high since the onset of the 1980's, during the Reagan years, with the implementation of 'Reaganomics'. The unemployment rate in 1981 was 7.6% and rose sharply in 1982 to 9.7%.

Illinois is doing about the same with the national averages. Preliminary numbers in December show that 505,300 people were out of work. This is the highest amount of people out of work since Feb. 1992. Illinois unemployment rate equals about 7.6%, with roughly 36,000 jobs cut in December. In December of '07, the rate was 5.3%. Illinois is ranked fourth in the highest over-the-month decline in December, topped by New York (54,000), Michigan (59,000), and California (78,200). In November and December, Illinois lost 73,600 jobs, the largest two-month decline in the workforce since 1990.

Randolph County is right on par with the national unemployment statistics. With a rate of 7.7%, Randolph County workers are struggling to find work. Preliminary numbers in December showed that 1,185 people were out of work. In '07, the rate was 5.7%. Randolph County is in the Local Workforce Investment Area 24, which includes: Clinton, Monroe, St. Clair, and Washington Counties. The preliminary numbers in December for this area were 15,313 people out of work at a rate of 8.2%. With more and more lay-offs happening in manufacturing jobs, the trend is showing it may get worse before it gets better. Manufacturing jobs were one of the worst sectors to get hit. In Illinois, 18,200 jobs were lost in 2008. 5,200 of these jobs were cut in December. That means about 1/3 of the manufacturing jobs that were cut, were cut in December alone.

Women are typically doing better than men in unemployment rates. Women, 20-years old and up, are at a 6.2% while men, 20-years old and up, are up at 7.6%. Education has been a significant factor in unemployment rates for people 25-years old and up. Those without a high school diploma were rated at 12% while those with a diploma were at 8%. People with some college were at 6.2% while people with a Bachelors degree or higher had a low unemployment rate of 3.8%.

The unemployment rates also vary by race. Whites were hovering around 6.9%. African Americans have a high unemployment rate, at 12.6%. Hispanics and Latinos had a rate of 9.7%.

The highest unemployed group were the youngest of the workforce, with citizens 16-19 years old having an unemployment rate of 20.8%. That is atypical data, for most people in this age group are living at home.