Unemployment Rate Sees Small Declines in 2021

For the fourth month in a row, Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate saw another small decrease. The unemployment rate in Missouri keeps falling but not at the rate it did at the height of the pandemic.

The April 2021 jobs report showed that Missouri’s unemployment rate dropped just one tenth of a percent to 4.1% from the March rate of 4.2%. The unemployment rate has ticked down each month in 2021 when it was at 4.3% in January. February to March showed a slight decrease but stayed at 4.2%.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic just one year ago, the April 2020 rate was 12.5% and decreased monthly at an impressive rate to end the year at 4.4% in December. Since then the downward trajectory has slowed significantly.

It is notable that Missouri’s unemployment rate has been below the national rate for every month since February 2020. The national unemployment rate increased from 6.0% in March to 6.1% in April 2021.

The largest Missouri job gains were in leisure & hospitality which added 5,200 jobs, service-providing industries which gained 2,600 jobs, and educational & health services which added 1,700 jobs.

KPGZ News - Brian Watts contributed to this story