Department of Numbers

St. Louis, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for St Louis fell 0.1 percentage points in January 2023 to 2.8%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.1 percentage points higher than the Missouri rate. The unemployment rate in St Louis peaked in April 2020 at 11.8% and is now 9.0 percentage points lower. You can also compare St Louis unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate January 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
National 3.4% -0.1 -0.6
Missouri 2.7% 0.0 -0.2
St Louis 2.8% -0.1 -1.2
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with January 2023 data as February 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 161,377. There are now 119,897 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. St Louis employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in St Louis, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons January 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
St Louis 41,480 -710 -16,698

Number of Unemployed Persons

St Louis, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate
Missouri
Unemployment Rate
St Louis
Unemployment Rate
St Louis
Unemployed
February
2023
3.6%
January
2023
3.4% 2.7% 2.8% 41,480
December
2022
3.5% 2.7% 2.9% 42,190
November
2022
3.6% 2.7% 2.9% 42,643
October
2022
3.7% 2.7% 2.9% 42,156
September
2022
3.5% 2.6% 2.9% 41,828
August
2022
3.7% 2.4% 3.0% 43,866
July
2022
3.5% 2.2% 3.1% 45,037
June
2022
3.6% 2.1% 3.2% 47,470
May
2022
3.6% 2.1% 3.5% 51,295
April
2022
3.6% 2.3% 3.6% 52,355
March
2022
3.6% 2.5% 3.7% 54,226

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.