With rest of state, Springfield unemployment rate rises

Trending with the rest of the state’s most populated areas, the Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate rose in June compared with May.

The unemployment rate last month was 2.9% for the Springfield MSA, which comprises Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties. That compares with 2.7% in May and is flat from the same month of 2018, according to a news release from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The BLS data is not seasonally adjusted.

Springfield ranked No. 2 among the eight Missouri MSAs in terms of lowest unemployment rate last month.

Missouri’s MSAs, in order of June unemployment rates, are:
• Columbia, 2.7%, up from 2.3% in May;
• Springfield, 2.9%, up from 2.7%;
• Jefferson City, 3%, up from 2.6%;
• Kansas City, 3.3%, up from 3.1%;
• St. Joseph, 3.3%, up from 2.8%;
• Joplin, 3.4%, up from 3%;
• St. Louis, 3.5%, up from 3.1%; and
• Cape Girardeau, 3.6%, up from 3%.

Missouri’s unemployment rate rose to 3.5% in June from 3.1% in May. The June rate also was flat compared with the same month of 2018, according to the release.

Compared with June 2018, last month’s unemployment rates were lower in 294 of the 389 metro areas measured by the BLS, higher in 67 and unchanged in 28.