County Unemployment Returns To Pre-Pandemic Levels

The Missouri Department of Labor reported that Crawford County’s unemployment rate fell in September to its lowest level since November 2019.

The county’s unemployment rate dropped from 7.3% in August to 4.2% in September, with only 138 initial claims.

Unemployment has fallen off by more than half since April as the country became gripped by COVID-19.

Unemployment skyrocketed from 5.8% in March to 9.5% in April.

It dropped incrementally by month, falling to 9.3% in May, 8.3% in June, 7.5% in July and 7.3% in August.

Unemployment sank to just 2.6% in September 2019, but steadily increased through the rest of the year.

It rose to 4.7% to begin January and February and with the pandemic striking in March, shot up more than a point.

There were 554 initial unemployment claims made in March and that number almost doubled in April, rising to 941.

It was dramatically cut in May to 432. After falling to 338 in June, it rose to 576 in July, then fell all the way to 170 in August.

Neighboring Counties

Dent County never saw a huge spike in unemployment. The county did go from a 4% unemployment rate in February to 4.8% in March and 6.1% in April, but it peaked.

The county’s rate fell from 5.5% in August to 3.3% in September, with only 48 initial claims.

Franklin County was hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and reported two straight months of higher than 10% unemployment.

However, the rate in September dropped to 3.9%. It was 6.8% in August.

There were 599 initial claims.

Gasconade County had rates of 9.5% and 9.7% in April and May, respectively, but has watched its rate tumble to 3.2%.

There were 79 initial claims in September.

Iron County saw unemployment surge to 9.8% in May, but it has fallen to 4.7%.

Iron County had 53 initial claims in September.

Like Dent County, Phelps never saw unemployment reach accelerated levels.

The county peaked at 6.6% in April and fell to 3.3% in September. Residents filed 209 initial claims.

Washington County reported three straight months of higher than 6% to begin 2020, then saw the rate surge to 10.4% and 10.5% in April and May, respectively.

In September, the rate fell to 4.8% and there were 153 initial claims.

State

Missouri has seen its overall unemployment rate drop to 4.9%, but initial claims are still triple, sometimes quadruple, higher than they were pre-pandemic.

Sullivan Independent News

Sullivan Independent News
411 Scottsdale
Sullivan, MO 63080

Phone: 573-468-6511
Fax: 573-468-4046

 

general@sullivannews.net
sports@sullivannews.net
advertising@sullivannews.net
billing@sullivannews.net