February unemployment rate drops 3 percentage points to 7 percent

ROCKFORD, March 31 — The Rockford metro area’s unemployment rate for February 2015 was 7 percent, down 3 percentage points from the same time a year ago.

Also, February marked the 12th month that unemployment fell in every metro area in Illinois compared to a year ago, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES).

The January unemployment rate was 7.8 percent and December 6.9 percent.