Springfield’s unemployment rate on the rise

The Springfield metropolitan statistical area’s unemployment rate continued to rise in January.

The January unemployment rate for the local MSA — comprising Greene, Christian, Webster, Polk and Dallas counties — came to 3.2 percent, up from 2.6 percent in December 2018, according to a news release issued this morning by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. December’s unemployment rate was an increase from 2.1 percent in November 2018.

The Springfield MSA tied for the third-lowest rate among the eight Missouri metro areas measured by the BLS.

Missouri’s MSAs, in order of January unemployment rates, are:
• Columbia, 2.7 percent, up from 2.2 percent in December;
• Jefferson City, 3.1 percent, up from 2.6 percent;
• Joplin, 3.2 percent, up from 2.7 percent;
• Springfield, 3.2 percent, up from 2.6 percent;
• Cape Girardeau, 3.4 percent, up from 2.9 percent;
• St. Joseph, 3.6 percent, up from 3.4 percent;
• Kansas City, 3.8 percent, up from 3.1 percent; and
• St. Louis, 4 percent, up from 3.4 percent.

Missouri’s unemployment rate of 3.8 percent in January was up from 3.1 percent in December 2018, according to the release. The BLS data is not seasonally adjusted.

Compared with the same month a year earlier, unemployment rates in January were lower in 199 of the 389 U.S. metro areas measured by the BLS, higher in 150 and unchanged in 40. The Springfield MSA’s unemployment rate was flat compared with January 2018, according to the release.