Job Numbers are Out

Yesterday's Quincy Herald Whig had an interesting article written by Matt Hopf that revealed that the area's job picture improved in March from one month earlier.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that it is still higher than it was one year ago. As jobs go, so does the problem with drugs and crime in the area as well. People with jobs regain their respectability and with it comes better decisions.  So watching the job numbers is important.

With that said here are the unemployment numbers according to the article for the area. In Adams County it was 7.6% in March and 8.1 in February.  In Brown County it was 5.0% in March compared to 5.8 % in February. Hancock County came in at 10.4% compared to 12.1% in February. The March numbers for Pike County (Illinois) showed the unemployment rate at 8.6% down from 10% a month earlier.

In Missouri, Clark County in March was 8.4% and that was up from 8.2% in February. Lewis County in March was 6.2% compared to 6.7% a month earlier.  Marion County showed a slight decrease from February to March going from 7.1% to 6.7% last month. Ralls County in March was 6.1% compared to 6.9% in February.  Monroe County ended March at 9.3%  down 5-tenths from 9.8% in February.

The rate in Quincy was 8.5% in February and ended March at 7.2%.

According to the article, the labor force in Adams County decreased by 220 people from February to March.  The cause of that could be people moving away, going off the unemployment rolls or just retiring.