Springfield unemployment rate increases

After a previous month-to-month decrease, the Springfield metropolitan statistical area's unemployment rate rose in October.

The jobless rate for the five-county area – comprising Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties – moved to 2.4% during the month, according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's up from 2% in September but still down from 2.7% in August.

Only one of the Missouri MSAs measured by the BLS – Kansas City – reported an unemployment rate decrease in October.

The MSAs are:
• Columbia, 2.2%, up from 1.8% in September;
• Jefferson City, 2.2%, up from 1.9%;
• Springfield, 2.4%, up from 2%;
• St. Joseph, 2.4%, up from 2.3%;
• Joplin, 2.6%, up from 2.3%;
• Cape Girardeau, 2.7%, up from 2.4%;
• Kansas City, 3%, down from 3.5%; and
• St. Louis, 3.2%, flat.

In Missouri, the unemployment rate in October was 2.8%, down from 2.9% in September, according to the release. The BLS data is not seasonally adjusted.

Nationally, compared with the same month a year earlier, October unemployment rates were lower in 386 of the 389 metro areas measured by the BLS, higher in one and unchanged in two. The Springfield MSA's October 2020 unemployment rate was 3.2%.