A few jobs were lost in Cape Girardeau County during the final quarter of 1991, but thanks to a surge in new retail businesses the unemployment rate edged down a bit in November.
Fall farm harvests were completed in October and November, and weather conditions resulted in construction slowdowns in November and December.
"We've had some job turnovers, but overall we're still doing pretty good in the job market," said Jackie Cecil of the Missouri Job Service office in Cape Girardeau. "We've been fortunate; we haven't had any big layoffs and we've seen a lot of new jobs created, especially on the retail business front."
In Cape County the jobless rate edged down to 4.3 percent in November, down a tenth of a percent from the 4.4 of October.
"However, our unemployment totals are up almost a half percent over November figures of a year ago," said Cecil. "But we had a flurry of construction during the final two months of 1990. In November of 1990 our unemployment rate was under the four percent (3.9) mark."
The 4.3 percent jobless rate still ranks the area among the 10 lowest in the state.
"We've been under 5 percent since July," said Cecil. "We were an even 5 percent in June."
With the Cape County workforce about 36,500 people, more than 34,800 people have jobs and 1,606 are on the jobless roles.
This has been no surprise to Job Service officials. Several new retail establishments have opened since July 1, including Shop 'N Save supermarket, Applebee's and El Chico restaurants, among others.
Another plus to the employment situation in the county will be the opening of the new Wal-Mart Supercenter in the near future. Wal-Mart officials figure they will add another 100-plus workers to their roles for the new, larger store.
"Actually we're holding pretty steady in our three-county area," said Cecil. "Bollinger and Perry counties are included out of this office, and we're down to 4.9 percent, including those areas.
Perry County had the second lowest unemployment rate in November in Southeast Missouri, at 5.3 percent. Although that is up from the 5.1 mark of October, it is still even with 1990 figures.
Bollinger County unemployment dropped almost a full percentage point in November, said Cecil. "It fell from 9.8 to 8.9," he said.
Missouri's statewide unemployment rate in November dropped to 6.1 percent, matching the lowest monthly level in 1991, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said.
After rising to 7.1 percent in June, the statewide figure dropped to 6.6 percent in July; 6.8 percent in August; 6.1 percent in September; and 6.4 percent in October.
"Although the unemployment rate has behaved erratically in recent months, the trend is downward," said Director Donna M. White. "The estimated total employment is much higher than a year ago. These are positive signs for the economy."
Estimated statewide employment in November was 2,517,563, up from the 2,496,246 estimate in October and up from the estimated employment level of 2,484,682 in November 1990.
There were an estimated 164,290 unemployed Missourians in November, compared to 171,744 in October and 156,157 in November 1990.
Over-the-year increases have been recorded in services employment, with 9,800 more jobs in 1991. Nearly half of the increase occurred in health services while local government employment increased by 3,300 jobs.
The increase in unemployment from October to November appeared to be seasonal, with construction employment down by 2,700 jobs, amusement and recreation services down by 3,000, and hotels down by 1,200.
Nodaway County had the lowest unemployment rate, 3 percent, while Iron County had the highest with 17.1 percent. Madison County unemployment figures jumped almost 5 percent, from 10.5 to 15 percent, largely because of the closing of a major shoe manufacturing operation at Fredericktown.
Unemployment rates were up in every Southern Illinois county.
"Labor market conditions remained stagnant in Southern Illinois," said Charles M. "Mike" Vessell, labor market economist for the Illinois Department of Employment Security at Harrisburg. "We had some moderate gains in holiday retail trade payrolls, but this did not counteract sizable employment losses in construction, mining and manufacturing."
Openings of Famous Barr and Montgomery Ward in University Mall at Carbondale and the Illinois Centre Mall at Marion added to retail employment figures.
Alexander, Pulaski and Union counties were among the 10 highest unemployment counties in Southern Illinois. Alexander, at 17.9 percent, and Pulaski, at 16.2 percent, were numbers four and six on the high jobless list, with Union number nine, at 14.6 percent.
Hamilton County, with more than one-fourth of its workforce unemployed, topped the highest unemployment list, at 25.2 percent, up almost 5 percent from its October totals.
The jobless rate also climbed in all 13 major metropolitan areas of Illinois, and about 72 employers in Illinois had large layoffs during November, said the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
The statewide unemployment rate for November was 8.4 percent, up 0.9 percent from October and 2.5 percent from November 1990. Increases in the 13 major metropolitan areas during the month ranged from 0.5 percent in Chicago to 1.9 percent in Bloomington.
IDES Director Loleta A. Didrickson said 71 employers in Illinois had layoffs of 50 workers or more during the month.
Nationally, the government reported Friday that America's jobless rate shot up to 7.1 percent in December, a new high for the recession, as nearly 300,000 more Americans joined the ranks of the unemployed.
In December alone, an additional 290,000 people joined unemployment lines, pushing to 2.1 million the number of Americans forced out of work since the recession started in July 1990, the government said.
The United States started 1991 with a jobless rate of 6.2 percent; before the recession began in July 1990, unemployment was holding at a relatively low rate of 5.3 percent.
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