Bankruptcies stay at elevated levels

Add comment May 15th, 2009

The number of people and business owners filing bankruptcy declined ever so slightly in April, but still the filings were the second highest since a new federal law in October 2005 made wiping out debt more difficult.

In April, there were 280 filings in Boone, Ogle, Stephenson and Winnebago counties. That was down four from March, but it was nearly 24 percent higher than the 226 filings in April 2008.

Through April, the number of bankruptcy filings are running more than 18 percent ahead of 2008.

Manufacturing employment at century low

Add comment May 15th, 2009

According to Illinois Department of Employment Security estimates, there were about 30,400 people working in the manufacturing industry in March in Boone and Winnebago counties.

This was a decline of 100 workers from February and, looking back to 2000, is the lowest total this decade.

In January 2000, there were 44,700 people in manufacturing.

The figures aren’t likely to improve in April and May considering the Chrysler plant in Belvidere and all of its supplier plants have either been working at half capacity or shut down entirely.