Missouri’s job market improved again in June

The Department of Labor is reporting that the Missouri labor market’s recovery continued in June 2020, following the major job losses earlier in the year from COVID-19 shutdowns. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 71,600 jobs over the month, and over-the-year job losses, though still substantial, were less than in April and May. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased more than two full percentage points from May 2020 to June 2020, while May’s rate was unchanged from preliminary estimates. Missouri’s smoothed seasonally adjusted unemployment rate went down by 2.2 percentage points in June 2020, decreasing to 7.9 percent from a revised May 2020 rate of 10.1 percent. The national unemployment rate was 11.1 percent in June 2020. Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has now been either below or equal to the national rate for 64 consecutive months.