Springfield MSA jobless rate drops

The Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate dropped in April after one stagnant month and two recent increases.

The five-county area’s jobless rate was 3.7 percent in April, down from 4.2 percent in March and February. The unemployment rate had increased from 3.9 percent in January and 3.4 percent in December, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release. The MSA comprises Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties.

In April, the unemployment rate decreased in each of Missouri’s eight MSAs compared with the previous month.

The Show-Me State’s current jobless rates:
    •    Columbia, 2.9 percent;
    •    Jefferson City, 3.5 percent;
    •    Springfield, 3.7 percent;
    •    St. Joseph, 3.8 percent;
    •    Joplin, 3.9 percent;
    •    Kansas City, 3.9 percent;
    •    Cape Girardeau, 4.3 percent; and
    •    St. Louis, 4.5 percent.

Missouri’s April unemployment rate - not seasonally adjusted - was 4.2 percent, according to the BLS.

Compared with the same month in 2015, unemployment rates in April were lower in 269 of the nation’s 387 metropolitan areas, higher in 94 and unchanged in 24, according to the federal release.