The unemployment rate in Illinois remained locked at 9.5 percent last month.

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today the state lost 17,800 jobs in March, but gained 36,000 compared to this time last year. The number of unemployed residents reached 629,200 in March, an increase of 1,700.

Illinois' unemployment rate was at its highest at 11.3 percent in January and February of 2010.

“Economic uncertainty nationally and abroad damped our county’s job growth. When that happens, Illinois’ share tends to be a negative number,” IDES Director Jay Rowell said in a Chicago Tribune report.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in March.

Potential Republican gubernatorial candidate in the 2014 race, Bruce Rauner, called Illinois’ unemployment numbers “unacceptable” and said “under the Quinn-Madigan regime Illinois is falling farther and farther behind.”

“The higher taxes and deepening debt crisis occurring under Quinn and Madigan is holding our economy back and hurting too many Illinois families,” he said in a statement. “The encouraging news is the folks I’m meeting as I travel the state understand what is needed to get our economy back on track. They know our pension system needs to be reformed, our tax and workers compensation systems need to be made more competitive, and we need to strengthen our schools.”

If Rauner decides to put his hat in the ring, it would be the millionaire venture capitalist’s first run for public office.

Other possible candidates for the GOP nomination in the 2014 race for governor include Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford; State Sen. Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), who ran against Quinn in 2010; State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale); U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock (R, IL-18); and former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh.

Possible Democratic candidates going up against Gov. Pat Quinn in the primary could include Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and former U.S. Commerce Secretary Bill Daley.