Unemployment rate drops, but Mo. loses 1,900 jobs

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- The state's June unemployment rate dropped from a month ago, but so did the number of Missouri jobs.

U.S. Labor Department figures show Missouri shed 1,900 jobs last month compared with May. The June unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, down from a three-year high of 6 percent a month earlier.

The national unemployment rate for last month was 5.5 percent.

The biggest job loser was in the government sector, which includes public school workers. Missouri also lost 1,600 manufacturing sector jobs and 800 construction jobs. That was offset by 1,400 new leisure and hospitality jobs and 2,000 new trade, transportation and utility jobs.