The unemployment rate in Illinois is at the lowest it’s been in four years, says the Illinois Department of Employment Security. The state’s unemployment rate was at 8.8 percent in September compared to 10.1 percent during the same time last year. State officials say the numbers show that the economy is progressively getting better.

“The recovery has not touched every doorstep, but we are doing better than we were a year ago, better than we were a couple years ago,” said Greg Rivara, communications manager for I.D.E.S. “In fact, we’re now seeing unemployment rates that we saw back about four years ago, right before the crash in 2008.”

Rivara said Illinois lost on average about 18,000 jobs every month during the recession. He compared that figure to the more than 4,000 jobs the state added every month this year. 

January 2010 was the first month Illinois stopped losing jobs, and the state saw job growth return after nearly two years of consecutive monthly decline. Rivera said, since then, Illinois has added about 150,000 private sector jobs. The education, healthcare and manufacturing industries are still adding jobs.

Mark Denzler, with the Illinois Manufacturer’s Association, said that organization is working on implementing new standards for community colleges that train for manufacturing jobs. Denzler said many manufacturing companies are still looking to fill job vacancies.

“It’s a struggle… when we talk to the owners of these companies, almost all of them indicate that they have a hard time finding qualified workers,” he said.  

Rivara suggests those who are unemployed try to participate in the economy’s growth. 

“If an individual has not updated their skills since they’ve been out of work, they are not in a position to re-enter this workforce, they are not in a position to be part of this growing economy,” he said.