Missouri’s unemployment rate is now at its lowest point in four years.
November’s jobless rate is at 6.7 percent, down from 6.9 percent in October. At the same time, though, the state lost 6,800 non-farm jobs last month. John Fougere is with the Missouri Department of EconomicDevelopment.
“There’ll be blips from time to time, but we never focus on any one month of data when it comes to the number of jobs gained or lost, but instead the overall trend," Fougere said. "Right now the overall trend of Missouri’s economy appears to be positive.”
Missouri’s November rate is one full percentage point below the national rate of 7.7 percent. Fougere says it’s the 39th month in a row that Missouri’s unemployment rate has been lower than the nation’s unemployment rate.
“The state has created about 31,000 net new jobs since last December…with the unemployment rate plummeting as it has, now, it’s down three full percentage point since 2009," Fougere said. "Missouri’s labor force is growing now -- we’ve had 21,000 return to the labor force in the past three months, so that’s going in the right direction as well.”
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