Springfield MSA unemployment rate improves

The Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate improved in March, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The five-county area’s March jobless rate was 3.2 percent, better than the 3.3 percent rate in February, according to a news release.

The Springfield MSA comprising Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties tied for the third-lowest unemployment rate among MIssouri’s eight metro areas measured by the BLS.

The MSAs, in order of unemployment rates recorded in March, are:
    •    Columbia, 2.6 percent, flat from February;
    •    Jefferson City, 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent;
    •    Joplin, 3.2 percent, flat;
    •    Springfield, 3.2 percent, down from 3.3 percent;
    •    St. Joseph, 3.5 percent, flat;
    •    Cape Girardeau, 3.6 percent, flat;
    •    Kansas City, 3.6 percent, down from 3.8 percent; and
    •    St. Louis, 3.7 percent, down from 3.8 percent.

The Show-Me State’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent, an improvement from 4 percent in February. The BLS data is not seasonally adjusted.

Compared with March 2017, unemployment rates were lower in 302 of the 388 metro areas nationwide measured by the BLS, higher in 64 and unchanged in 22, according to the release.