Missouri needs a kick in the economy

Missouri's unemployment rate averaged about 5 percent last year, edging up gradually throughout the year. While the state's overall rate stayed below national percentages, pockets of Missouri -- particularly Southeast Missouri -- had high jobless rates that reached double digits in the Bootheel and in Wayne County.

Accompanying the increasing unemployment rates were reports that the state has been losing jobs at a rate faster that any other state on a per-capita basis. From March 2001 to last November, the state lost 90,000 jobs while 16 other states gained jobs. In all, 35 states showed declines in available jobs in the same period.

As Joe Driskill, direction of the Missouri Department of Economic Development, observed, many of the jobs the state has lost since the economic downturn came mostly from sectors that had significant gains in the boom that lasted from March 1994 until March 2001. During that period, Missouri added more than 311,000 jobs.

In the past two years, Missouri has seen jobs dry up in the business services and electronics-equipment manufacturing sectors. In addition, there are fewer government jobs as the state has left positions vacant in an effort to reduce spending. Another area with fewer jobs is heavy construction.

A popular current theme in Jefferson City is the need to create more jobs. Driskill, for example, says the state must be poised to invest in new technology, pay attention to the needs of small businesses and improve education levels when the recession ends.

Gov. Bob Holden took note of the state's job situation in his State of the State address earlier this month. In a policy shift, the governor proposed tax incentives aimed at keeping businesses in Missouri. In recent years, much of the state's new-job-creation emphasis has been on enticing businesses to relocate in Missouri.

There's no question that the state needs more incentives to keep Missouri businesses happy, but that shouldn't negate efforts to draw more jobs to the state. Out-of-work Missourians will contribute nothing to the nation's economic recovery if they aren't working and, therefore, are unable to benefit from President Bush's proposed tax cuts.