State Stix                           

General funds

The general funds balance at the end of January was $108.554 million, the highest it has been since September. The average daily available balance was $76.2 million. This balance was possible only because the state was holding $502 million in unpaid bills as of January 31. This did not include $437 million in medical reimbursement payments held by the Department of Public Aid but ready for release to the Comptroller.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Road Fund: revenues down, expenditures up

For 62 consecutive months, from December 1985 through January 1991, the Road Fund posted record month-end levels. Since February 1991 levels have declined compared to the previous year; since August 1991 they have declined compared to the previous month. The December 31 balance in the state's Road Fund was $185 million, the lowest month-end balance for December since 1985.

Road Fund revenues for the first half of fiscal 1992 were $965 million, down $18 million (1.8 percent) from comparable revenues a year ago. Revenues from state sources were down $25 million (3.7 percent), due in part to delays in transfers to the fund from the General Revenue Fund and a decline in motor fuel tax receipts available for distribution. Revenues from federal sources were up $7 million (2.3 percent).

Total expenditures from the Road Fund in the first six months of fiscal 1992 were $1.163 billion, up $91 million (8.5 percent) from comparable spending during the first half of fiscal 1991.

Source: Same as above.

Better news on Illinois unemployment

In January the national seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 7.1 percent, the same as in December. Illinois' was 8.2 percent, down from 9.3 percent reported for December (later revised to 9.1 percent).

Mass layoffs in Illinois (employers laying off 50 or more workers) dropped from 88 in December to 48 in January, and unemployment leveled off. This produced a welcome drop in the state's unemployment rate, the first since July. Among large states, Michigan with 8.9 percent, Florida with 8.7 percent and New York with 8.4 percent had higher unemployment rates than Illinois.

In January the state's civilian labor force consisted of 6.124 million people, up by 75,000 from December's revised figure; 5.619 million people had jobs, up 122,000 from December, and 505,000 people were looking for work, a drop of 47,000 from the revised figure of 552,000 in December.

Showing a net gain of 75,000 people over January 1991, the January 1992 labor force had 38,000 fewer people with jobs and 113,000 more unemployed than a year ago.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Metro area unemployment

In order to provide a better idea of what the metro unemployment statistics mean, more discription is provided below of the areas covered in Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSAs) and Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). Also, the unemployment rates reported below are not the "final nonseasonally adjusted unemployment rates" usually reported in "State Stix." Those rates are the initial revision during the first month after unemployment statistics have been issued for the state's metro areas. The term "final" is somewhat misleading since the rates are still subject to a once-a-year revision that goes back two years and is based on information the Department of Employment Security gets from collecting unemployment insurance taxes. In March 1992 the department will revise unemployment statistics for 1991 and 1990.

Beginning this month, "State Stix" will report the "preliminary metro area unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted" along with the date they were issued, usually three to four weeks after the month ends.

Released January 30, the preliminary, nonseasonally adjusted December unemployment rates for the state's metro areas were:

Aurora-Elgin PMSA (Kane and Kendall counties), 9.6 percent.

Bloomington-Normal MSA (McLean County), 6.4 percent.

Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul MSA (Champaign County), 5.7 percent.

Chicago PMSA (Cook, DuPage and McHenry counties), 8.6 percent.

Davenport-Rock Island-Moline MSA, Illinois portion (Henry and Rock Island counties), 10.9 percent.

Decatur MSA (Macon County), 11.0 percent.

Joliet PMSA (Grundy and Will counties), 10.7 percent.

Kankakee MSA (Kankakee County), 11.5 percent.

Lake County PMSA, 6.4 percent.

Peoria MSA (Peoria, Tazewell and Woodford counties), 9.4 percent.

Rockford MSA (Boone and Winnebago counties), 10.4 percent.

Springfield MSA (Menard and Sangamon counties), 6.6 percent.

Illinois portion of St. Louis MSA (Clinton, Jersey, Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties), 9.7 percent.

Source: Same as above.

Margaret S. Knoepfle

March 1992/Illinois Issues/27