The number of Evanston unemployed jumped by 2,940 people in April to 4,356. The official unemployment rate increased sharply to 12.2% from 3.7% last month and 2.8% a year ago.
The official unemployment rate, U3, is a narrow measure of unemployment. U3 defines “unemployed” people as people who are willing and able to work and have actively sought employment within the past four weeks.
U6, a broader measure of unemployment which includes discouraged and under-employed workers, is much higher but not reported for individual cities. For the total U.S., U6 was 22.8% in April or 800 basis points higher than the official rate of 14.7%.
More people were unemployed in April than during the peak unemployment period of the Great Recession 10 years ago. The number of unemployed persons in Evanston rose steadily through June 2009, remained above 3,000 for more than a year, and peaked at 3,590 in July 2010.
State and City unemployment figures for May will be available in early July.