County's jobless rate dips; 3 times higher than 2019

The unemployment rate in Cape Girardeau County dropped by more than half a percentage point in May but remained more than three times higher than it was during the same month last year.

Data released Thursday by Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations listed Cape County's jobless rate in May at 8.9%, down from 9.5% reported for the county in April when 5,011 county residents filed initial claims for unemployment benefits.

The lower unemployment rate reflects the gradual reopening last month of many businesses in the county -- such as restaurants and retail stores -- which had been closed since mid-March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employment by those businesses were enough to compensate for the 1,354 initial unemployment claims filed in Cape County in May.

Still, Cape County's 8.9% jobless rate last month was more than three times greater than the 2.8% rate recorded in May 2019 and more than four times above the October 2018 rate of 1.9%, which was the lowest monthly jobless rate recorded in the county in more than a decade.

The county's 9.5% and 8.6% unemployment rates in April and May, respectively, were higher than any months in the past dozen years, including the months that followed by economic recession that began in 2008.

During that period, the county's monthly unemployment rate typically fell between 5% and 8% and topped out at 8.2% in January 2011.

Adjoining counties

Unemployment rates in Scott, Perry and Bollinger counties also improved in May compared to April.

In Scott County, the jobless rate dipped 0.3% in May, going from 7.6% in April when 2,053 claims were filed for unemployment benefits to 7.3% last month. The number of first-time claims in May dropped to 691 in Scott County.

Bollinger County's unemployment rate fell 1.2% from April to May, from 9.6% to 8.4%. The number of first-time unemployment filings in the county also fell significantly, from 526 in April to 163 last month.

But one of the biggest unemployment drops in Missouri last month was in Perry County, where the jobless rate fell 2.4%, from 14.8% to 12.4%. According to Perry County Economic Development Authority executive director Scott Sattler, the reopening in May of TG Missouri in Perryville, one of the region's largest employers, was a major factor in the county's unemployment data.

More than 2,600 Perry County residents filed for unemployment benefits in March and April, many of whom were employees of the TG plant, which makes components for the automobile industry. The plant was closed for several weeks in March and April during a decline in auto sales nationwide.

While employment numbers improved in Cape, Bollinger, Scott and Perry counties last month, many other area counties continued to see employment declines in May. Rising unemployment rates by county in the region include:

• Dunklin County from 8.7% to 9.2%.
• Iron County from 8.5% to 9.8%.
• Mississippi County from 5.4% to 5.8%.
• New Madrid County from 7.4% to 7.9%.
• Pemiscot County from 8.9% to 10.4%.
• Wayne County from 8.5% to 8.9%.

Elsewhere, Stoddard County's unemployment rate fell last month from 10.0% to 7.9%, and Ripley County's rate remained unchanged at 12.3%.

Missouri, national data

Statewide, the Missouri Department of Labor reported May's unemployment rate fell 0.1% in May, going from 10.2% to 10.1%. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 303,259 Missourians were unemployed in May, about 5,200 fewer than the 308,494 listed as "jobless" in April.

In the 14 weeks since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak in mid-March, 667,346 Missourians filed initial claims for unemployment benefits.

In nearby states, May's unemployment rates were: Illinois, 15.2%; Arkansas, 9.5%; Kentucky, 11.0%; and Tennessee, 11.3%.

Nevada had the nation's highest unemployment rate last month at 25.3%, followed by Hawaii and Michigan at 22.6% and 21.2%, respectively. At 5.2%, Nebraska had the nation's lowest unemployment rate last month.

The nation's unemployment rate in May was listed at 13.3%, down 1.4% from 14.7% in April. Approximately 46 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since mid-March.

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