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(AP) -- CHICAGO - Illinois officials plan to release the statewide unemployment rate for June.

Thursday's announcement will come two weeks after federal officials said the nation's June unemployment rate hit a 26-year high of 9.5 percent.

Unemployment in Illinois has climbed steadily, hitting a 25-year high of 10.1 percent in May.

The Rockford metropolitan area had the highest local unemployment rate, at 13.4 percent. Boone County had the highest single-county unemployment rate at 13.7 percent.

The total number of unemployed in Illinois was 671,400 in May, but officials are hoping the pace of job losses is slowing.

Nationally, employers cut a larger-than-expected 467,000 jobs in June and workers saw weekly wages fall.

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