State Stix

October general funds

At the end of October the general funds balance was $88.464 million. The average daily available balance was $104.149 million. This balance was possible only because the comptroller was holding $359 million in bills the state lacked the money to pay. This did not include hundreds of millions of dollars in medical assistance reimbursements being processed by the Department of Public Aid.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

October employment

The national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in October was 6.8 percent, up from 6.7 percent in September. Illinois' was 7.7 percent, up from 7.1 percent. Among the 11 most populous states, the following had higher October unemployment rates than Illinois: Massachusetts, 8.9 percent; Michigan, 8.8 percent; Texas, 7.9 percent; and California, 7.8 percent.

In October there were 5.955 million people in the state's civilian labor force (down 40,000 from September); 5.494 million people had jobs (down 75,000 from September), and 461,000 people were looking for work (up 35,000 and the most since May 1987).

Rain swelled seasonal joblessness. Real estate lost 3,000 jobs, compared to 900 during October 1990. Retail trade did not offset job losses in eating/drinking establishments. There were also scattered manufacturing layoffs. Education-related jobs increased by 20,000.

The three-month average unemployment rate (August, September, October) rose to 7.3 percent from 7.0 percent in September. In October 1990 the state's jobless rate was 6.0 percent with 363,000 people unemployed. In October 1989 it was 6.6 percent with 398,000 people idle.

Final unemployment rates for August and September in the state's major metropolitan areas were:

Aurora-Elgin, 7.0 percent, 6.7 percent.

Bloomington-Normal, 4.3 percent, 3.8 percent.

Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 4.4 percent, 4.0 percent.

Chicago, 7.0 percent, 6.6 percent.

Decatur, 9.1 percent, 8.2 percent.

Joliet, 7.3 percent, 6.7 percent.

Kankakee, 8.7 percent, 7.9 percent.

Lake County, 4.5 percent, 4.1 percent.

Quad cities (Illinois sector), 9.5 percent, 7.5 percent.

Peoria, 7.0 percent, 6.4 percent.

Rockford, 11.1 percent, 7.7 percent.

Springfield, 4.8 percent, 4.8 percent.

St. Louis (Illinois sector), 8.2 percent, 7.5 percent.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Margaret S. Knoepfle

December 1991/Illinois Issues/35