Missouri unemployment rate drops to 3.8%

State of Missouri officials pointed to COVID-19 recovery when reporting the state's latest employment rate and the number of jobs added in September.

Last month, the state's unemployment rate dipped to 3.8% from 4% in August, according to a news release from the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center. The data is seasonally adjusted.

"With the start of the COVID-19 pandemic now more than a year in the past, the September 2021 rate was 1.6 percentage points lower than the September 2020 rate," officials said in the release.

During September, Missouri's seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll employment ranks grew by 7,500 jobs to roughly 2.8 million compared with August.

Service-providing industries added 11,000 jobs, with 4,500 in professional and business services, 4,500 in transportation and utilities, 3,100 in leisure and hospitality, and 1,500 in education and health services. Partially offsetting the increases were goods-producing industries, which lost 3,500 jobs over the month, according to the release.