Springfield metro area’s unemployment rate ticks up

After a drop in September, the Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate was up slightly in October, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The five-county area — comprising Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties — recorded a 2.2% jobless rate last month, according to a news release. That’s up from a revised 2.1% unemployment rate in September and 3.2% in August.

All but one of Missouri’s metro areas posted an unemployment rate increase in October compared with September.

Missouri’s MSAs, in order of October unemployment rates, are:
• Columbia, 1.7%, flat from September;
• Jefferson City, 1.9%, up from 1.8%;
• Springfield, 2.2%, up from 2.1%;
• St. Joseph, 2.3%, up from 2.1%;
• Joplin, 2.4%, up from 2.2%;
• Cape Girardeau, 2.5%, up from 2.4%;
• Kansas City, 2.7%, up from 2.5%;
• St. Louis, 2.7%, up from 2.6%;

Missouri’s October unemployment rate of 2.5% was up a tenth of a point from September, according to the BLS data that’s not seasonally adjusted.

Compared with a year earlier, October unemployment rates were lower in 240 of the 389 metro areas measured by the BLS, higher in 121 and unchanged in 28. The Springfield MSA’s October 2018 unemployment rate was 1.9%, according to the release.