Major spike in Rockford's unemployment rate.

Rockford/DeKalb – Rockford's unemployment rate nearly doubles the national rate. The combined jobless rate for Winnebago and Boone Counties now stands at nearly 20-percent. Chicago-based economist, Edward Stuart, says it could take six months or longer before Rockford begins to see improvement. He says the recession has been so deep, it will take a lot for the city to pull itself out. Meanwhile eleven out of the top twelve metropolitan areas in Illinois have double-digit unemployment. In DeKalb County, the jobless rate is close to 12-percent.