(Undated) — The unemployment number statewide took a dip last week. According to the Illinois Department of Employment Security, fifteen-thousand-five-hundred-ninety-five new claims were filed the week of March 15th, marking a significant decrease from the previous week of seventy-one-thousand-one-hundred-seventy-five. Nationwide, jobless claims have fallen to a pandemic-era low. However, the latest available numbers for Crawford County show an uptick in the jobless numbers. The IDES reports a jobless rate in Crawford County of six point six percent in January of 2021 compared to four point two percent in January of 2020.
