Missouri’s unemployment rate has steadied during the summer….but is now below the national average. Bob Priddy looks into it. The state economic development department says unemployment usually goes up in June when a lot of people enter the summer job market…then drops in July and August. This time, the jobless rate in Missouri has remained the same for July as it was for June, seasonally adjusted, at 4.7 percent. Increases in jobs have been noted in manufacturing, government, professional and business services and educational and health services. Department analyst Bill Niblack says the jobless figures are following typical trend lines for Missouri in the summer. The July jobless race is more than one-half point lower than it was a year ago in July. The department says layoffs in the auto industry have not been as much as usual and that construction jobs have increased… Overall, the department says non-farm employment has grown by 33-thousand jobs in July. The national unemployment rate is up a tenth of a point….putting it that tenth-of-a-point higher than Missouri’s rate.
