Missouri's unemployment rate rose during September from the already low level for the month of August. The state's seasonally adjusted rate of 3.1% is 0.3-percentage points below the September 1999 rate of 3.4%. The national unemployment rate dropped slightly to 3.9%. Of Missouri's neighboring states, Iowa, Nebraska, and Oklahoma all had unemployment rates lower than Missouri for September (2.3%, 2.6%, and 3.0%, respectively).
Unemployment levels continue to vary between counties, with the gap widening as winter approaches. Counties with the highest levels of unemployment continue to be clustered in the Lower East central region of the State, though Linn County in North central Missouri posted the highest level in the state at 9%. Nodaway (0.8%) and Boone (1.0%) Counties continue to lead the state. Twenty counties in Missouri enjoyed unemployment levels below 2% in September, up from twelve counties in August and ten in July. (County-level unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted.)
