Jobless rates worsen, rising in Kankakee, Iroquois, Ford, Vermilion counties

New unemployment rates show numbers on the rise in East Central Illinois.

Iroquois, Ford and Kankakee county jobless were all up in December compared to November and a year earlier.

Champaign County's unemployment rate was 8.2 percent in December, up from 7.4 percent in December 2012, according to data released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

Vermilion County's rate was 12.2 percent in December, up from 10 percent a year earlier.

Statewide, unemployment rates rose in 10 of the 12 metro areas. The other metro areas where rates declined were Chicago and Davenport-Moline-Rock Island.

The number of nonfarm jobs in the Champaign-Urbana metro area dropped by 1,100 over the course of the year, while the number in the Danville metro area dropped by 100.
The Champaign-Urbana metro area includes the counties of Champaign, Ford and Piatt, while the Danville metro area takes in all of Vermilion County.

Here are the December unemployment rates for other counties in East Central Illinois and their change from a year earlier:

— Coles, 8.7, up from 8.
— DeWitt, 8.1, up from 8.
— Douglas, 7.9, up from 7.2.
— Edgar, 9.4, up from 9.1.
Ford, 8.7, up from 7.9.
— Iroquois, 8.4, up from 8.
— McLean, 7.1, up from 6.4.
— Piatt, 8.1, up from 7.3.

Unemployment rates also rose in the cities of Champaign, Urbana and Danville.

Champaign's rate climbed from 7.5 percent to 8.2 percent; Urbana's jumped from 7.8 percent to 9.1 percent; and Danville's leaped from 10.9 percent to 13.9 percent