Unemployment in Missouri decreased in May. Missouri's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.8 percent in May, down from 5.2 percent in April.

From April to May, seasonally adjusted payroll employment in Missouri dropped by 5,500 jobs. Most industries had job losses in May with the exception of service industries, which grew by 3,900 jobs. Over the past year, Missouri has lost 56,300 jobs, most of which were from the manufacturing sector.

The national unemployment rate also decreased in May to 5.8 percent from 6.0 percent in April. Four of Missouri's neighboring states had lower unemployment rates during the last month. These include Iowa (3.5 percent), Nebraska (3.7 percent), Kansas (4.3 percent) and Oklahoma (4.5 percent).

Unemployment levels are not distributed evenly across Missouri, with pockets of high unemployment persisting in several areas (county-level rates are not seasonally adjusted). Counties with high unemployment levels are particularly pervasive in southeast, south central and north central Missouri. Twenty-four counties and St. Louis City had unemployment rates that were 6.0 percent or higher.

The highest unemployment rates were found in Wayne (10.2 percent), Douglas (9.9 percent), Madison (9.2 percent), Reynolds (8.7 percent), Iron (8.5 percent), Pemiscot (8.5 percent), Washington (8.5 percent), Bollinger (8.4 percent), and Wright (8.0 percent) counties.

Areas of lower unemployment are spread throughout the state with the greatest concentration of low unemployment in April in northwestern and central Missouri counties. Six counties had unemployment rates below 3 percent.

The lowest unemployment rates were found in Nodaway (1.9 percent), Boone (1.9 percent), Adair (2.4 percent), Cole (2.6 percent), Phelps (2.7 percent) and Atchison (2.9 percent) counties.