Shore Capital Management LLC

Friday Aug 19th, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released their July 2011 regional and state unemployment rates.  Illinois is tied in ranking for 36th place at 9.5% for state unemployment rates along with Kentucky, New Jersey and Oregon. North Dakota and Nebraska are ranked number one and two with unemployment rates of 3.3% and 4.1% respectively.

At the bottom of the rankings are Nevada and California at 12.9% and 12% respectively.  The July national unemployment is 9.1%, down from 9.2% in June.

The seasonally adjusted month over month unemployment rate increase of 0.4% from 9.1% to 9.5%, ranked IL as one of the five states with the largest July increases.

On a historical basis (data beginning in 1976), the highest recorded rate for the IL unemployment rate is 12.9% from December 1982 to February 1983. The lowest recorded rate is 4.2% in February 1999. IL last reached 9.5% unemployment in October/ November 2010.

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