Missouri has not seen unemployment figures like this for three years. Until the good times of the last few years, a 4.3 percent unemployment rate had been considered pretty good. That’s what it is in the June figures – up 7-tenths of a point since May. The State Department of Economic Development says Missouri has lost more than 25,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year, another 18,000 durable goods jobs, and another 17,500 positions in business services. Economic Development Director Joe Driskill says it is imperative for the state to find new ways to strengthen manufacturing here.
