The unemployment figures from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, Economic Information and Analysis Division came out last week.  In that report, Illinois saw their unemployment rate stay steady last month at 4.4-percent.  The united states number stayed the same too, which is at 4.1-percent.  In our area, the lowest is once again Washington County with a figure of 3.3-percent.  Clinton County this month is at 4.5-percent, up by .2 from last month.  The rest of the counties in our area goes as followed, Clinton County 4.5-percent, Randolph and Jackson counties at 4.6-percent, Marion 5.3-percent, St. Clair 5.4, Jefferson 5.5, Perry 6.1-percent and Franklin County the highest in our area in unemployment with a figure of 6.5-percent.  Washington County was once again ranked in the top 5 in Illinois, with the lowest unemployment figures.  Brown County was the lowest in unemployment at 2.9-percent, Du Page next at 3.2, Washington 3rd at 3.3-percent, Kendall 4th at 3.9-percent and Cook, Monroe, McHenry and Moultrie all tied for 5th at 4.0-percent.   The top 5 highest unemployment numbers goes as followed… 4th highest a tie with Hardin and Henderson counties at 7.9-percent, 3rd Union at 8.0, Johnson number 2 at 8.6-percent and the highest unemployed county in Illinois in February was Pulaski County at 8.7-percent being unemployed.  In total, 25-percent of counties in Illinois have an unemployment rate under 5.0-percent, with 42-percent of counties being higher than 6.0-percent in Illinois.