Missouri looks to rebound from a recession that has cost it jobs and has clouded the ability of state officials to predict when things might turn around. State Economic Development Director Joe Driskill had forecast Missouri would emerge from its recession at the end of the summer. That didn’t happen. What Missouri has seen is a big loss of jobs. The state has lost 77,000 jobs in the past year-and-a-half. Driskill worries about the losses of manufacturing jobs, because those are the high-paying jobs for those without college educations. Driskill says some factories have moved off-shore, but he really doesn’t have a good handle on where the jobs are going. Driskill says it appears business is in a wait and see mode, trying to determine just where the country is moving before investing in growth.
