Springfield MSA jobless rate ticks up in June

The unemployment rate in the Springfield metropolitan statistical area rose six-tenths of a point to 5.7 percent in June, compared to 5.1 percent in May.

However, the June rate in the Springfield MSA - which comprises Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties - is down from 6.1 percent in the same month of 2013, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release.

The Springfield MSA had the third-lowest unemployment rate last month among the eight metro areas in Missouri. The metro area jobless rates were:

• Columbia, 5.1 percent;
• St. Joseph, 5.5 percent;
• Springfield, 5.7 percent;
• Jefferson City, 5.8 percent;
• Joplin, 5.9 percent;
• Kansas City, 6.3 percent;
• Cape Girardeau-Jackson, 6.8 percent; and
• St. Louis, 7 percent.

In June, 359 of the 372 metro areas in the U.S. measured by the BLS reported lower unemployment rates than a year earlier, 10 recorded higher rates and three were unchanged, according to the release.

The Missouri unemployment rate dipped a tenth of a point to 6.5 percent in June, and the U.S. rate was 6.1 percent during the month, according to Springfield Business Journal archives.[[In-content Ad]]