Unemployment rate at lowest for 28 months | Local News

“There will always be people out of work for one reason or another, but this shows that we are almost at what is called full employment,” said Washington Community and Economic Development Director Sal Maniaci. The last time the number of people filing for unemployment was this low was in April 2019.

Although the state Labor Department did not release unemployment figures for November and December, the federal government said the nation’s jobless rate fell to 3.9% in December. The figure, a pandemic low, shows employers “are struggling to fill jobs with many Americans reluctant to return to the workforce.”

In Washington, Maniaci said the high number of unfilled jobs is indicative of another problem: attracting employees.

“Having such a low unemployment rate and still having a lot of our industries hiring shows the importance of adding new workers to the workforce,” Maniaci said. He and other leaders of the Washington-area Chamber of Commerce Young Professionals organization are working with St. Louis-based Jajo Agency on a “Plan to Stay” marketing campaign that aims to recruit white collars and blue collars for Washington.

“Overall, all of our industries need workers,” Maniaci said. “Companies want to be here, which is a good thing, but now we just need the workers to keep them here.”

Franklin County’s unemployment rate was similar to unemployment rates in other neighboring counties.

The Missouri Labor Department reported the following county-level unemployment rates for October: Warren, 2.6%; St. Charles, 2.3%; St. Louis, 3%; Jefferson, 2.7%; Washington, 3.3%; Crawford, 2.9%; Gasconade, 2.3%. The city of St. Louis had 4.2% unemployment in October.

The Missouri Department of Labor reported the county’s overall unemployment rate was 2.6% in October, down from 3.7% reported in October 2020.

The unemployment rate in Franklin County has fallen nearly every month in 2021, according to the Labor Department. The highest unemployment rate was recorded in February, when 5.2% of workers were out of work.

Statewide, the number of industries with Missouri’s highest unemployment rates in October are: waste management, 1,758 unemployed; construction, 1,455 unemployed; health care and social assistance, 2,034 unemployed; manufacturing, 3,854 unemployed; retail, 1,405 unemployed; catering and meal preparation, 1,012 unemployed; transport and removal of equipment, 1,255 unemployed.

Franklin County industry-specific data on unemployment is not available from the Labor Department.