(NEWTON/OLNEY) The area downstate unemployment rates are down for September. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reports Effingham County has the region’s lowest number at 3.5% with all other area counties between 4% and 7%. The largest drops in unemployment were in Richland, Marion, and Fayette Counties, all down four-tenths of a percentage point (o.4%) from August. Meanwhile the unemployment rate for Illinois in September was at 5% even, which is 1.1% higher that the national joblessness rate in the U.S.