Jefferson City, Mo. — The unemployment rate among Missourians has hit an all-time low, according to the new jobs report sent out Wednesday by the Missouri Economic and Research Information Center.
The report details many different parts of Missouri’s economic growth. The most intriguing number might be the one for seasonally adjusted unemployment rate. The rate this month is at 2.8% which is down from May’s rate of 3.1%.
According to the Economic and Research Information Center, this is the lowest the rate has been since data collection began almost 50 years ago in 1976. The last time the unemployment rate was this low was in 2019, when it reached 2.9% for a three-month span.
Missouri’s unemployment rate is better than the national unemployment rate for June, which was 3.6%.
This comes as welcome news to many Missourians, as a mix of nationwide inflation, rising fuel costs and supply chain issues have rocked the state for much of 2022.
A total of 5,300 jobs were added since last May, with many sectors seeing large job growth. Leisure and hospitality had an increase of 2,400 jobs. This is an important improvement for Missouri, as May’s job report saw a 2,400 job decrease in leisure and hospitality jobs.
Educational and health services saw an increase of 1,200, a continuation of steady increases for the sector that saw a large growth of 1,700 back in May.
Other job areas are seeing better growth since the last report too. Government jobs saw a massive increase, comparable to a very noticeable loss last month. In May, Missouri lost 1,700 government jobs. 1,100 were local and 600 were federal government jobs.
Now, many government jobs are making their way back into the fold. June saw an addition of 3,300 jobs to the government sector. State government jobs saw an increase of 1,800 and local government saw an increase of 1,700. A far cry from last month’s massive loss in that sector.
Despite an overall healthy job market, some areas are seeing an overall decrease.
Professional and business services lost 3,300 jobs. This is very different than the last report, where the sector saw an increase of 3,500 jobs.
The sector has been on a yo-yo of sorts over the last two months. Professional and business services were one of the only sectors that saw an increase of such a large scale last report and is now one of the only sectors with a decrease of such a large scale in this report.
Gov. Parson seems bullish on the Missouri economy, putting out a tweet Wednesday to highlight Missouri’s low unemployment rate.
GREAT NEWS: Missouri's unemployment rate dropped to 2.8 percent – the lowest in Missouri’s history since this data series started in 1976.
Missouri’s economy is STRONG! pic.twitter.com/KsokKrpKak
— Governor Mike Parson (@GovParsonMO) July 20, 2022
Kelton is a 2023 graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. He is a native of mid-Missouri and likes to write politics at both the state and federal levels. Kelton joined the Missouri Times in April 2022
