Seasonally adjusted data released Tuesday shows that state’s jobless rate held steady.
(Courtesy; Missouri Secretary of State’s office)
Information from the Missouri Department of Economic Development reveals unemployment in May mirrored the 3.9% clip registered in April, although it’s down significantly from 4.6% a year ago. However, total non-farm employment is down by 0.8% from a year ago.
The Goods-Producing category inched down from a year ago, while Goods-Providing is up almost 2%. Government jobs shrank by a miniscule 0.2%.
The Professional and Business Services sector experienced to largest growth in jobs at 4.7%, followed by Leisure and Hospitality and Educational and Health Services. Information employment was down slightly more than 6% from a year ago.
Among the metropolitan areas, Kansas City enjoyed the strongest job growth year-to-year with a gain of 2.1%, although 8,000 fewer people were employed in May than in April.
Springfield also showed strong year-to-year growth of 1.9%. Columbia and Jefferson City saw upward increases in employment at or above one percent each, while employment in St. Louis grew by just under a percentage point.
St. Joseph saw a slight gain in jobs from a year ago, while Joplin and Cape Girardeau experienced employment declines of .2% and .7% respectively.
Find the complete set of unemployment figures released by the state Department of Economic Development here.