Illinois and Coles County unemployment rates remain stable, despite the crippling national economy, climbing only one-tenth of a percent from July to August.

Over the month span of July to August, the national unemployment rate climbed .4 percent to a five-year record high, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Illinois and Coles County sat higher than the 6.1 percent national rate at 7.3 percent and 7.1 percent, respectively.

In August of 2007, the rate for Coles County was 4.9 percent.

“In these financially difficult times, when national economic instability is hurting our Illinois workers, it is evident that Illinois needs a statewide comprehensive jobs plan,” said IDES Director Maureen O’Donnell through a press release.

In order for the Illinois unemployment rate to remain stable, the state must continue to do preventative work, such as the new jobs bill they have endorsed. The bill aims to protect Illinois workers’ jobs through regulation standards in industries.

“The proposed jobs bill would create work for hundreds of thousands of people in Illinois, absorb the effects of job losses and positively impact our economy,” O’Donnell said.

The IDES has labeled Coles County as one of the regions that benefit from the increases in jobs in the education and health services industries.

Though the IDES does not analyze numbers for metropolitan areas under 25,000 in population, Dennis Hoffman, key market analyst for the Southern Region Office of the IDES, said Charleston undoubtedly benefited from Eastern Illinois University and Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center in remaining stable in unemployment rates. The IDES also said the demand for jobs in those fields may have given Central Illinois the boost needed to remain above the “drowning” counties in Southern Illinois and the overall health of the nation.

“The demand for positions in the health services and education fields left Central Illinois relatively stable,” Hoffman said. “But unemployment always swings back and forth like a pendulum. Just last year Illinois tied its record low from 1999 at 4.1 percent.”

Hoffman blames the increase in unemployment on the manufacturing industry. This industry accounts for most of the jobs in Southern and Central Illinois, according to the IDES.

“Illinois and the rest of the nation have seen significant decreases in jobs for these industries, and because of that, it has struggled,” Hoffman said.

Coles County moved off the poverty warning list compiled by the Heartland Alliance Mid-America Institute on Poverty earlier this year. Because of increased graduation rates and decreased teen pregnancy rates, Coles County’s quality of life has increased. Such factors lead to lower unemployment rates, according to the institute.

However, because of the national trend, O’Donnell and the IDES continue to warn Illinois lawmakers.

“Although employer hiring has expanded moderately or remained stable, and despite the relative strength and diversity of Illinois’ regional economies, it is clear that the national economic instability is poorly affecting employment in areas throughout the state,” O’Donnell said. “The employment situation underscores the need for a jobs plan that can help put Illinoisans to work.”

Locally, Charleston stands at a slightly higher unemployment rate than the county, 7.5 percent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Brown County in west-central Illinois has the state’s lowest unemployment rate at 4.4 percent. Hardin and Franklin counties in Southern Illinois have the highest at 12.2 percent.

Krystal Moya can be reached at 581-7945 or at [email protected].