All eight of Missouri’s metro areas saw an uptick in unemployment rate in June, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics report released last week.
Missouri’s increases fell in line with most places across the country. Nearly 90% of metro areas included in the report saw hikes in unemployment.
From May, Missouri’s unadjusted unemployment rate inched up from 3.9% to 4.2%. Unemployment rose a full percentage point from June 2023.
Even with the increase, Missouri metro areas still averaged a slightly lower unemployment rate than the U.S. average of 4.3%.
Most of the individual metro areas in Missouri experienced similar rises from May. St. Joseph rose the most, up half a point from 3.6% to 4.1%. On the smaller side, Jefferson City and Springfield each experienced 0.2-point increases.
Missouri’s two largest metro areas, Kansas City and St. Louis, saw unemployment grow 0.3 and 0.4 point, respectively. However, unemployment shot up significantly year-over-year in both places. Kansas City’s rose 0.8 point to 3.8%, while St. Louis’ rose 0.9 point to 4.3%.
Joplin was the only metro area in Missouri with an unemployment rate higher than St. Louis’, checking in at 4.4% in June.
Missouri’s 4.2% rate was the state’s highest since July 2021. Kansas City and St. Louis both recorded their highest unemployment rates since August 2021, when they were 3.9% and 4.6% respectively.
National unemployment growing slowly can be a result of the Federal Reserve Bank keeping rates high, according to University of Missouri economics professor Peter Mueser.
“The idea is, if they keep the rates high, that's expected to slow down the labor market a little bit, or slow down in the markets in general,” Mueser said.
With inflation continuing to be “somewhat elevated” according to the Fed, Mueser said slightly higher unemployment can assist in reducing price growth because businesses don’t have to raise wages.
“That increase in the unemployment rate is in some ways a design feature,” he said.
This story was originally published by the Missouri Business Alert, a fellow member of the KC Media Collective.
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