Missouri unemployment rate dips in April

Missouri's unemployment rate dipped in April as payroll employment increased.

The state's jobless rate last month was 4.1%, down from 4.2% in March, according to a news release today from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. The change is greater compared with a year ago, however.

"With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic now a year in the past, the April 2021 rate was 8.4 percentage points lower than the April 2020 rate," officials said in the release.

During April, Missouri's seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment rose by 600 jobs to 2.8 million compared with March.

Job increases were reported by leisure and hospitality employers, up 5,200, and educational and health services, up 1,700, according to the release. Goods-producing industries, which lost 2,000 jobs last month, partially offset the gains.

The most recent unemployment rate for the Springfield metropolitan statistical area came in at 3.6% in March, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.