Unemployment Rate Creeps Higher

For the second month in a row, Missouri's smoothed seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased. The unemployment rate gained one-tenth of a percentage point in November 2022, rising to 2.7 percent from the revised October 2022 rate of 2.6 percent.

The November 2022 rate was 1.2 percentage points lower than the November 2021 rate. A year ago, the state's seasonally adjusted rate was 3.9 percent. The estimated number of unemployed Missourians was 83,000 in November 2022, up by 4,132 from October's 78,868.       

The national unemployment rate remained unchanged over the month. Missouri's unemployment rate has been at or below the national rate for the last five years.       

The state's not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged in November 2022, holding at October’s 2022 rate of 2.4 percent. A year ago, the not-seasonally-adjusted rate was 3.2 percent. The corresponding not-seasonally-adjusted national rate for November 2022 was 3.4 percent.       

Missouri's labor force participation rate was 62.5 percent in November 2022, four-tenths of a percentage point higher than the national rate of 62.1 percent. Missouri's employment-population ratio was 60.8 percent in November 2022, nine-tenths of a percentage point higher than the national rate of 59.9 percent. Missouri's unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in November 2022 was one point lower than the national rate of 3.7 percent. 

KPGZ News  - Brian Watts contributed to this story