Department of Numbers

St. Louis, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for St Louis fell 0.0 percentage points in September 2023 to 3.2%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than the Missouri rate. The unemployment rate in St Louis peaked in April 2020 at 12.0% and is now 8.8 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 2.6% in May 2022, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.6 percentage points. You can also compare St Louis unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate September 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
National 3.8% 0.0 +0.3
Missouri 2.9% +0.1 +0.3
St Louis 3.2% 0.0 +0.5
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with September 2023 data as October metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: St Louis, Missouri, National

St Louis, Missouri monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

St Louis, Missouri Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in St Louis peaked in April 2020 at 165,269. There are now 117,072 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 37,731 in June 2022, the number of unemployed has now grown by 10,466. St Louis employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in St Louis, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons September 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
St Louis 48,197 +1,317 +9,022

Number of Unemployed Persons

St Louis, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Missouri
Unemployment Rate		 St Louis
Unemployment Rate		 St Louis
Unemployed
October
2023		 3.9% 3.1% — —
September
2023		 3.8% 2.9% 3.2% 48,197
August
2023		 3.8% 2.8% 3.2% 46,880
July
2023		 3.5% 2.7% 3.0% 45,148
June
2023		 3.6% 2.6% 2.9% 43,446
May
2023		 3.7% 2.5% 2.8% 41,613
April
2023		 3.4% 2.5% 2.7% 39,844
March
2023		 3.5% 2.5% 2.6% 38,762
February
2023		 3.6% 2.6% 2.7% 39,220
January
2023		 3.4% 2.7% 2.7% 39,681
December
2022		 3.5% 2.7% 2.7% 39,732
November
2022		 3.6% 2.7% 2.7% 39,848

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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