WORKERS CARCE WITH LOW UNEMPLOYMENT

Workers from Illinois, Kentucky and as far away as Kansas, work in Cape Girardeau County, but almost 80 percent of the jobs in the county are filled by local residents.

Workers have become scarce in Missouri, where the unemployment rate declined from 3.2 percent in October to 2.2 percent in November.

The unemployment rate is even lower in some Southeast Missouri counties.

The bulk of outside workers in Cape Girardeau County come from Scott County -- nearly 3,200 of them -- with Bollinger County residents ranking second.

Illinois sends about 950 workers across the Mississippi River Bridge every day, with two thirds of them from southernmost Alexander County. Another 200 people commute from Union County.

But local residents don't just work in Cape Girardeau County. Scott County attracts more than 1,077 residents from Cape Girardeau County. To the north, Perry County attracts another 400.

More than 300 local workers here have jobs in nearby Southern Illinois.

The Cape Girardeau County unemployment rate skidded under the 2 percent mark in November, at 1.8 percent. And, in Perry County, the employment totals are even better at 98.8 percent employed. Of the 11,633 Perry County workforce, only 137 are unemployed.

The story is the same throughout the area Bollinger, Scott and New Madrid counties all have a 2.6 unemployment rate; Butler County is at 2.5 percent and Ste. Genevieve at 1.7 percent.

Statewide, more than 2.8 million workers are employed.

"The strength of Missouri economy has been clearly reflected throughout 1999 by solid job growth and continued low unemployment," said Joseph L. Driskill, Department of Economic Development (DED). The DED's Division of Workforce Development keeps tabs on who's working and who's not.

Even with all the good news, there is bad.

Florsheim Shoe closed its last United States plant recently in Cape Girardeau, with a loss of about 300 jobs. Some workers went to new jobs, a few took early retirement, and some are in job retraining programs.

There a few part-time jobs out there now. The Census Bureau is accepting application for the 2000 census.

Illinois unemployment remained about the same, with 3.9 percent unemployment.

"There were no real surprises in Southern Illinois," said Charles M. "Mike" Vessell, labor market economics at the Illinois Department of Employment Security office at Marion.

Nine of the 22 counties in the southern region recorded unemployment increases from October to November. Three counties remained the same and 10 counties recorded decreases.

"In most cases, the changes were small, usually less than 1 percent," said Vessell.

The late-year closing of the Peabody Baldwin Mine resulted in 400 layoffs of miners living in four Southern Illinois counties.

Alexander, Union and Pulaski counties all recorded a slight decrease in unemployment. Massac County normally has one of the lowest unemployment rates, but it showed an increase from 3.8 percent in October to 4.1 in November.

AREA JOBLESS RATES

Counties in Southeast Missouri

Cape Girardeau, 1.8 percent

Perry, 1.2 percent

Scott, 3.8 percent

Stoddard, 2,7 percent

Bollinger, 2.6 percent

Mississippi, 3.2 percent

New Madrid, 2.6 percent

Pemiscot, 4.7 percent

Dunklin, 3.0 percent

Butler, 2.5 percent

Southern Illinois counties

Massac, 4.1 percent

Alexander, 6.7 percent

Pulaski, 7.3 percent

Union, 6.3 percent

Johnson, 4.8 percent

Williamson, 5.2 percent

Jackson, 3.5 percent