State Stix

THE general funds balance at the end of January was $248,531 million; the average daily available balance was $269,236 million. Both were lower than in December.

The nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 6.7 percent in January, and the Illinois rate dropped for the second month in a row — to 7.7 percent from 8.6 percent in December. There was a record number of people employed in Illinois in December: 5.228 million. The total civilian work force was 5.666 million people; of these, 438,000 were unemployed. The job surge was caused by scattered recalls in mining and manufacturing, strong hiring in all service industries and unusually mild weather. Average annual employment has been increasing in Illinois, moving from 4.950 million in 1983 to 5.096 million in 1984 and 5.160 million in 1985.

Final November unemployment rates in the major metro areas were: Aurora-Elgin, 7.8 percent; Bloomington-Normal, 6.6 percent; Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 5.4 percent; Chicago, 8.1 percent; Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (Illinois sector) 12.2 percent; Decatur, 11.1 percent; Joliet 7.9 percent; Kankakee, 11.8 percent; Lake County, 5.9 percent; Peoria, 10.8 percent; Rockford, 10.2 percent; Springfield, 7.4 percent; St. Louis (Illinois sector), 10.4 percent.