Unemployment rate rises
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| Sysco Asian Foods in Hampshire is in the process of closing and about half of its employees will be laid off. (Lauren M. Anderson – landerson@nwherald.com) |
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Better economic reports in the past month have had analysts encouraged that the worst of the nation’s recession might be over.
But although the pace of layoffs slowed in May, the nation’s jobless rate rose to its highest level since August 1983.
The Labor Department said Friday that employers cut 345,000 jobs in May, the lowest monthly figure since September and well below analysts’ expectations.
“This tide is turning,” said Richard Yamarone, economist at Argus. “We expect this trend of slower job loss to continue throughout the year.”
The unemployment rate rose, though, to 9.4 percent. That’s a 0.5 percent jump from April, and above economists’ expectations of 9.2 percent.
If laid-off workers who have given up looking for new jobs or have settled for part-time work are included, the unemployment rate would have been 16.4 percent in May, the highest on record dating to 1994.
The news comes a week after area unemployment data for April was released. McHenry County’s unemployment rate edged up to 9.8 percent in April from 9.6 percent in March, while Kane County ticked up to 10.4 percent in April from 10.3 percent in March, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
McHenry County is now at its highest monthly unemployment rate since February 1992, when it also was 9.8 percent. County unemployment has not reached 10 percent in a month since February 1982. Its high-water mark since 1974 is 13.8 percent, registered in February 1983.
Of the cities covered by IDES, McHenry continues to post the highest unemployment rate, up to 10.6 percent in April from 10.3 percent in March. Crystal Lake rose to 9.7 percent in April, with Lake in the Hills up to 9.1 percent and Algonquin up to 8.4 percent.
Carpentersville, which had reached 14.7 percent unemployment in March, fell to 13.6 percent in April.
One of the recent casualties in the recession is the Sysco Asian Foods distribution center in Hampshire, which is being consolidated into distribution centers in Chicago, eastern Wisconsin and Minneapolis-St. Paul, Sysco Vice President for Corporate Communications Mark Palmer said.
Palmer said the center was in the process of winding down operations, and that 40 of the facility’s 80 employees had accepted jobs at other facilities. The remaining 40 employees were offered and accepted retention payments to keep them on until the facility closed, he said. Those employees will receive severance based on their term of employment.
“It’s about efficiency and being able to continue to serve our customers well,” Palmer said. “The customers will not see any difference in their service quality.”
The center distributed Asian food products to Asian, Vietnamese and Thai restaurants. Those products now will be shipped out of the other three larger distribution centers.
“There’s still an Asian foods specialty company,” Palmer said. “We’re not immune to the current economic cycle we’re in, but we’re very pleased with it.
“It’s a very attractive food style for a lot of folks. For value-conscious folks, some of the products serve that segment very well. Health-conscious people find a lot of products that use a lot of fresh produce. And just like anything else in America, when you introduce something that tastes good, people flock to it.”
