The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced that Illinois’ unemployment rate in May held steady at 6.0 percent.  The state’s unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate reported for May, which inched up from the prior month to 5.5 percent.  Nonfarm payroll employment gained 9,200 jobs, based on preliminary data released by the Department and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.  The BLS revised April data which showed a further increase in Illinois’ job gain from a preliminary 4,800 to 5,400.  Illinois has gained an average of 5,300 jobs per month since recovery from the 2008-09 recession while a majority of other states have seen a quicker recovery, per BLS data.  The number of jobs in Illinois will not reach pre-recession levels until approximately June 2016, according to IDES analysts’ estimations.  In May, the industry sector with the largest gains in employment was Professional and Business Services with 6,900 more jobs.  The industry sector with the largest decline in employment was Manufacturing with 2,500 fewer jobs.  Over the year, nonfarm payroll employment increased by 62,100 jobs with the largest gain in Professional and Business Services with the largest over-the-year decline was in Manufacturing.  In May, the unemployment rate stood 1.1 percentage points below the unemployment rate a year ago when it was 7.1 percent.  The number of unemployed workers increased 0.3 percent from the prior month to 392,000 and was down 15.6 percent over the same month for the prior year.  The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and seeking employment.  An individual who exhausts or is ineligible for benefits is still reflected in the unemployment rate if they actively seek work.  IDES’ IllinoisJoblink.com program, which helps jobseekers connect with hiring companies, recently showed that 168,271 help wanted ads were available and 59,192 resumes were posted.  Many positions however continue to remain unfilled.