Belleville's unemployment rate remained high but has shown a significant decrease since last year, according to figures compiled by the US Department of Labor.
As of September, the most recent month for which data is available, the total number of township residents in the workforce was 18,035, with 16,152 listed as employed and 1,883 as unemployed, for a rate of 10.4 percent. One year earlier, in September 2009, the figures were 18,229, with 16,135 working and 2,094 seeking work, for a total unemployment rate of 11.5 percent.
The trend in Belleville mirrors what's happening countywide, government figures show. In September, Essex County's unemployment rate was 10.7 percent, down from 11.3 percent a year earlier.
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