Springfield unemployment rate drops

Following suit with the rest of the state, the Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate dropped in April.

The latest unemployment rate for the area — comprising Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties — was 2.5%, compared with 3.3% in March, according to a news release.

The Springfield MSA ranked third in April unemployment rate among the eight metro areas measured in Missouri by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Missouri’s MSAs, in order of April unemployment rates, are:
• Columbia, 2.1%, down from 2.8% in March;
• Jefferson City, 2.3%, down from 3.3%
• Springfield, 2.5%, down from 3.3%;
• Cape Girardeau, 2.7%, down from 3.6%;
• Joplin, 2.7%, down from 3.5%;
• St. Joseph, 2.9%, down from 3.8%;
• Kansas City, 3%, down from 3.8%; and
• St. Louis, 3.2%, down from 4%.

Missouri’s unemployment rate was 2.9% in April, compared with 3.9% in March, according to the BLS data that’s not seasonally adjusted.

Compared with the same month a year earlier, April unemployment rates were lower in 306 of the 389 U.S. MSAs measured by the BLS, higher in 57 and unchanged in 26, according to the release.