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Illinois Unemployment Data
12:33 pm
Thu September 15, 2011

Ill. unemployment up sharply to 9.9 percent

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Illinois' unemployment rate shot up almost half a percentage point in August to 9.9 percent. And state officials are blaming the continuing struggles of the national economy and weak consumer confidence.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday that Illinois' unemployment rate surged from 9.5 percent in July.

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U.S. Census Bureau / Economics
2:09 pm
Tue September 13, 2011

New Census Bureau report: 15 percent of Missourians are poor

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Updated 2:46 p.m. with additional contextual information

A newly released report shows that nearly 15 percent of people in Missouri are poor.

The Census Bureau's annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year.

Nationally, nearly 1 in 6 people were classified as poor.

Meanwhile, the share of Americans without health coverage rose from 16.1 percent to 16.3 percent - or 49.9 million people - after the Census Bureau made revisions to numbers of the uninsured. That is due mostly to continued losses of employer-provided health insurance in the weakened economy.

In Missouri, 14 percent of residents lacked insurance.

But how does today's data compare with the numbers in years prior?

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The Road Back To Work
9:08 am
Tue September 6, 2011

The Road Back to Work: Part Nine, Bumps On The Road Back To Work

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Credit Tamara Keith / NPR
Casaundra Bronner returned to work in July and says being able to walk her daughters to the bus in the morning is one of the benefits of her new job at a small company.
Credit Tamara Keith / NPR
Ray Meyer researches potential employers at the library near his home in Kirkwood, Mo. He says the uncertainty of temp work is gnawing away at him.
Credit Tamara Keith / NPR
Randy Howland works from home for a major telecom company making $10 an hour. To help bring in more money, his wife, Lisa, had to find a second job.
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Originally published on Mon September 5, 2011 3:09 pm

Part of an ongoing series.

Like some 14 million Americans, the people in our series The Road Back to Work started the year unemployed and searching for a job.

Back in January, we gave six people, all living in St. Louis, Mo., digital recorders and asked them to document their experience as they went through the process of looking for a job.

Working, Still Struggling

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