State unemployment flat in March

Even with 4,800 jobs added to payrolls across Missouri, the state’s unemployment rate did not budge last month, the Missouri Department of Economic Development reported today.

The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in March stood at 7.4 percent – equaling Missouri’s lowest rate in the last 39 months and well below the national rate of 8.2 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate improved from 8.3 percent in February.

Unemployment in Missouri has now fallen by 2.3 percent since peaking at 9.7 percent in August 2009, according to the DED.