The statewide unemployment rate was down for Illinois and jobs were up in October. That according to the latest information released by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The jobless rate for October was 6%, down from the seasonally adjusted September rate of 6.2%. Those numbers are a big change from 2020 at this time when the October unemployment rate was over 8%. Individual county jobless rates for the month for southeastern Illinois including Lawrence County were not yet available from the IDES.