CHAMPAIGN & VERMILION COUNTY, Ill. (Chambana Today) — Several metro areas around the state are seeing continued trends of unemployment decreasing. Data released on Thursday by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Illinois Department of Employment also show that total nonfarm jobs increased in five metropolitan areas, leading to consecutive months with year-over-year growth.

“Illinois continues to showcase the resiliency of our economy, with unemployment declining across all twelve metro areas for the second month in a row and consecutive months of job gains in Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield,” said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. “The state remains committed to workforce development programs and resources that ensure communities across Illinois can fully benefit from them.”

The Champaign-Urbana MSA had a +1.1% increase in total nonfarm jobs, equivalent to over 1,300 jobs, to increase to a total of 116,100 jobs. Employment increased in the Government (+1,200), Leisure-Hospitality (+600), Private Education-Health Services (+100), and Mining-Construction (+100) sectors.

With that, the Champaign-Urbana metro area also saw a 0.6% drop in unemployment, from 5.0% to 4.4% over the last year.

Employment decreased in Manufacturing (-200), Professional-Business Services (-200), Retail Trade (-200), and Information (-100) between July 2024 and July 2025.

The Danville area and all of Vermilion County also saw great improvement over the past year. The unemployment rate in the county decreased from 7.0 percent last year to 5.9 percent this year.

Nonfarm employment decreased by -950 to the total of 25,175 jobs. Employment increased in the Private Education-Health Services (+125) and Natural Resources-Mining (+25) sectors, while employment decreased in Manufacturing (-450), Professional-Business Services (-225), Trade-Transportation-Utilities (-125), Government (-100), Construction (-100), Leisure Hospitality (-25), and Financial Activities (-25) in the past year.