The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported Thursday that the state unemployment rate fell 1/2 of a percentage point to 11% in August based on preliminary data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released by the IDES. The Illinois unemployment rate was 2.6% higher than the national jobless rate of 8.4% for August and over 7% higher than the state rate in 2019. IDES officials say the unemployment rate will steadily decline as confidence in the state economy increases and more people returning to the workforce. Individual county unemployment numbers for the state including southeastern Illinois were not yet available from the IDES.