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 go down by .2-percent, to now 4.4-percent. The united states number was down as well by .2-percent, to now at 3.9-percent. In our area, the lowest is once again Washington County with a number of 2.0-percent, down from 2.8-percent. Clinton this month is at 2.6-percent, down by .5-percent from last month. For area counties, all are down by between .7-percent to 1-percent. Randolph 3.1-percent, Jackson 3.4-percent, St. Clair 3.7-percent, Marion 3.8, Jefferson 4.1, Perry 4.5-percent and Franklin the highest again, but down by .9-percent, to a figure of 4.9-percent. Washington and Clinton Counties are again ranked in the top 5 with the lowest unemployment figures in the state. Washington was the lowest in Illinois at 2.0-percent, followed by Brown 2.2, Monroe 2.5, Clinton 4th lowest at 2.6-percent and rounding out the best 5 counties on unemployment is Moultrie County at 2.7-percent. The top 5 highest unemployment numbers goes as followed… 5th Massac County at 5.4-percent, Hardin 4th at 5.9, next Alexander County for a figure of 6.0-percent, 2nd Johnson at 6.1-percent and Pulaski County is rated the highest in unemployment with a rate of 6.3-percent. In total, 65-percent of counties in Illinois have an unemployment rate under 4.0-percent. In comparison to the March figures, April had 86-percent of their counties under 4.5-percent. March had 48-percent of their counties under that same number. 14 counties in March were over 5.5-percent, this past April, that number was at 4.