Jobless rates improving

Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate continued to improve in July, the most recent month for which data is available.

According to a report issued last week by the Missouri Department of Revenue & Labor Relations, Cape County's jobless rate dipped from 6.9% in June to 6.2% in July, 3.3% lower than the county's 9.5% rate in April. That, according to the state labor department, was the highest monthly unemployment rate in Cape County in more than a decade.

July was the third straight month Cape County's jobless rate was lower than the month before, an indication the county's workforce is gradually recovering from the effects of COVID-19.

But while the county's unemployment rate fell 0.7% in July, the number of people who filed first-time claims for unemployment benefits increased by nearly 800 in July, from 935 in June to 1,732. (That number was as high as 5,011 in April.)

For the state as a whole, July's unemployment rate was 6.9%, while the nation's seasonally-adjusted jobless rate was 10.2%

Among the counties bordering Cape County, July's employment rates released last week, compared to June's rates were:

• Bollinger — 6.8%, up from 6.4% in June
• Perry — 4.8%, down from 5.7% in June
• Scott — 6.1%, down from 6.5% in June

Statewide, all counties with the exception of Taney County in Southwest Missouri, had single-digit unemployment rates in July. Taney County, which includes Branson, had a jobless rate of 10.8% in July, likely an indication of the impact coronavirus has had on tourism in the Branson area.

The City of St. Louis had the state's highest jobless rate in July, checking in at 11%.

On the other end of the spectrum, Scotland County, in extreme Northeast Missouri on the border with Iowa, had the state's lowest unemployment rate in July. With a population of fewer than 5,000, Scotland County is the state's fifth-least populated county and had a reported unemployment rate of just 3.9% in July.

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Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn't ask me whether I know when Fitness Plus, the medically-integrated fitness facility at Saint Francis Medical Center, will reopen.

Fitness Plus closed in March — as did many other businesses — as the coronavirus outbreak spread into Missouri. But while most other businesses — including other fitness facilities — have reopened, Fitness Plus has remained shuttered.

In response to my inquiry last week about the status of Fitness Plus, Saint Francis replied with a statement from Dr. Thomas Diemer, Saint Francis Healthcare System's chief medical officer:

"We continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 pandemic as it relates to the health and wellness of our community. Ultimately, safety remains our highest priority.

"The Health and Wellness Center at Saint Francis Medical Center provides much-needed services to recovering, vulnerable patients in addition to the services offered at Fitness Plus. It is our duty to safeguard these patients as we continue to provide cardiac rehabilitation, specialty clinics and physical, speech and occupational therapy.

"Due to the high-risk of exposure, we cannot mix our patients with those exercising at this time."

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One business that will apparently be opening later this fall is the Rock 'N' Roll Drive-In.

There have been social-media posts about this new venture, which is described on Facebook as a drive-in movie theater and live music venue.

I've been in contact with one of the developers who tells me he and his partner are nailing down some details and will be able to tell me more about the new business in the near future.

Stay tuned.

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It should surprise no one that retail sales in the United States took a big hit in the second quarter of this year as countless businesses closed and millions of Americans stayed home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

But the numbers could have been so much worse had it not been for six national retailers that accounted for 30% of the nation's retail sales.

Who were they? In no particular order, they were Amazon, Walmart, Target, Costco, Home Depot and Lowe's.

Three of those companies — Walmart, Target and Lowe's — have locations in Cape Girardeau, which probably helps explain why the county's sales tax revenue has exceeded expectations, despite the pandemic.

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