Unemployment numbers for May are a mixed bag. It’s a case of no change….but change. The jobless rate, seasonally adjusted, remains at 7.3 percent, the same as April. It’s the lowest number in 41 months.
Missouri continues to run behind the national rate, which was 8.2 percent for May.
The economic development department says the state non-farm payroll employment dropped by 7300.
The department figures 24,700 new jobs have been added in the first five months of this year–even with last months’ drop in non-farm employment. Department spokesman John Fougere says more than half of the drop in employment has been in construction and in manufacturing. He says a big part of the manufacturing drop is in the auto industry, which has shut down factories for retooling and model changeovers.