Unemployment rate ticks down in Springfield metro area

The Springfield metropolitan statistical area recorded an unemployment rate decrease in August, in line with most of its peers statewide.

The Springfield MSA – which comprises Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties – had an August unemployment rate of 4.2%, which compares with 4.3% in July, according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The state's metro areas, by August unemployment rate, are as follows:
• Jefferson City, 3.7%, down from 3.8% in July
• Columbia, 4.1%, down from 4.5%
• Springfield, 4.2%, down from 4.3%
• Cape Girardeau, 4.3%, down from 4.6%
• Kansas City, 4.3%, down from 4.4%
• Joplin, 4.4%, down from 4.5%
• St. Joseph, 4.5%, down from 4.8%
• St. Louis, 4.5%, flat

Missouri's August unemployment rate was 4.5%, down from 4.7% in July. The BLS data is not seasonally adjusted.

Compared with a year prior, August's unemployment rates were higher in 243 of the 387 metro areas measured nationwide by the BLS, lower in 115 and unchanged in 29. The Springfield MSA's August 2024 unemployment rate was 4.2%.