Job seekers outside the Wit hotel in Chicago on April 12, 2010. (Antonio Perez/Chicago Tribune)

By Sandra M. Jones
| The unemployment rate rose in the Chicago area in April, but at a slower
pace, providing a glimmer of hope that the job market is improving.

The jobless rate in metropolitan Chicago rose to 10.7 percent in April,
compared to 9.8 percent in April 2009, according to a report released
Thursday from the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The
figures are not seasonally adjusted.

While local unemployment has gotten worse for the past three years, economists point to smaller increases in the unemployment rate in each of the past four months as a healthy sign.

“Four consecutive months of smaller increases in this rate is encouraging, because it offers another measure that indicates this national recession might be nearing an end,” said Maureen O’Donnell, director of the Illinois Department of Employment Security in Chicago.

All dozen metro areas measured in Illinois posted higher unemployment in April from the year ago. The biggest increase occurred in Rockford, up 3.3 percentage points to 16.3 percent.

The unemployment rate for April, not seasonally adjusted, was 10.8 percent in Illinois, and 9.5 percent in the U.S.

Total non-farm jobs fell in 11 of the 12 metro areas, with the biggest losses on a percentage basis occurring in downstate Decatur (down 4.5 percent), Lake County-Kenosha (down 3.5 percent) and the Chicago metro area (down 2.3 percent). The Chicago metro area lost 84,500 non-farm jobs in April compared to the year ago.