State Stix

THE general funds balance at the end of February was $112,278 million. The average daily available balance was $208,785 million.

The state's unemployment rate in February jumped to 9.5 percent compared to 7.7 percent in January — a record increase for a one-month period. The national unemployment rate in February also rose, to 7.3 percent from a January rate of 6.7 percent. Three states accounted for most of this increase: Illinois, California and Texas.

There were 5.694 million people in Illinois' civilian work force in February. Of these, 5.151 million people had jobs, and 543,000 were looking for work. Compared to January, there were 105,000 more people without jobs, 77,000 fewer people with jobs and 28,000 more people in the work force.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security listed the following reasons for the high unemployment rate: more people looking for work, post-holiday layoffs by retail firms, and furloughs and layoffs by several large companies — AT&T, Chicago Northwestern, Deere, Ford, Navistar (formerly Harvester), LTV Steel and McLean Trucking. In addition, in January the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revised its survey questions relating to the availability of work. Final state metro rates will be reported next month.