The latest unemployment numbers are still bothersome. Some counties report an upward swing in February while others dropped somewhat.

Kankakee County's jobless rate climbed to 12.1%. That's the 12th highest among the 102 counties in Illinois. Champaign County and five other area counties saw slight improvements in their unemployment rate, compared with February 2013.

Iroquois and Ford County have numbers at 10.1 percent. Livingston and Will counties are at 9.7 and 9.8%. These four counties were higher in February than Janaury.

Vermilion County's rate was 12.8 percent, up from 11.9 percent in February 2013. In the Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area — which includes Champaign, Ford and Piatt counties — nonfarm employment was 1,700 higher than a year earlier.

Over the year, the Danville metropolitan area, including all of Vermilion County, had a net loss in nonfarm employment of 600 jobs.

The biggest losses came in manufacturing, professional-business services and government, with small gains in transportation-warehousing-utilities, retail trade and wholesale trade.

94.1 WGFA