Springfield MSA jobless rate falls below 4%

The Springfield metropolitan statistical area unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent in October after registering at 5.1 percent in September.

The October rate for the MSA - comprising Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties - also is down from 5 percent in the same month a year earlier, according to a U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics news release.

All eight metro areas in Missouri measured by the BLS recorded month-to-month and year-to-year decreases. The MSAs, by October unemployment rate, were:

• Columbia, 3.1 percent;
• Jefferson City, 3.8 percent;
• St. Joseph, 3.8 percent;
• Springfield, 3.9 percent;
• Joplin, 4 percent;
• Cape Girardeau-Jackson, 4.5 percent;
• Kansas City, 4.8 percent; and
• St. Louis, 5.4 percent.

Unemployment rates in October were lower than a year earlier in 354 of the 372 metro areas measured nationwide by the BLS, higher in 14 areas and unchanged in four, according to the release.

According to the most recent data available from the BLS, the U.S. unemployment rate was 5.8 percent in November and Missouri was 4.8 percent in October.