STRICTLY BUSINESS: UNEMPLOYMENT STATISTICS GOOD AND BAD NEWS

Once again, the latest employment/unemployment totals for Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois paint a "good news, bad news" scenario.

With more than 33,300 workers employed in Cape Girardeau County, the good news is that only 851 members of the county's work force are unemployed.

"Those totals give the county its lowest unemployment rate ever," said Don Shuck, employment service supervisor at the Missouri Job Service office in Cape Girardeau. "We've been around the 3 percent mark a few times, but never 2.5."

Employment totals for the three counties serviced by the job service office here average 97.1 percent.

The work force for the Cape Girardeau, Perry and Bollinger counties totals 48,733. A total of 47,312 people have jobs, leaving 1,421 unemployed, tabulating into an unemployment rate of 2.9.

The "bad news" is that the "good news" leaves a void for existing and new-industry jobs.

The problem is statewide.

The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reports that unemployment in the state is at 3.2 percent.

Total Missouri employment in November was 2,692,600, an increase of 700 over the month before. The unemployment rate represents 87,600 unemployed Missourians, 23,800 fewer than in November of a year ago, when the unemployment rate was 4.1.

Elsewhere in Southeast Missouri, unemployment rates were down in eight of 12 counties, including Pemiscot, which has cut its unemployment rate in half over November of 1994.

Pemiscot County reported 13.2 percent unemployment a year ago. During the past year, the gambling riverboat Aztar Casino started operations, employing up to 500 persons -- many from Pemiscot County.

Meanwhile, Illinois could close out the year with its lowest unemployment rate in more than two decades, state officials say. The Illinois Department of Employment Security issued this forecast Friday, based on 11-month figures, of a 5.1 percent unemployment rate statewide for the current year.

That would be the lowest since 1974, when the jobless rate was 4.2 percent. Last year's rate was 5.7 percent. Employment growth advanced during the fall throughout Southern Illinois, and a number of counties with traditional double-digit unemployment are now reporting single-digit jobless totals.

Seventeen Southern Illinois counties reported low unemployment rates, including Massac at 4.6 percent, Union at 6.2 percent and Alexander County at 7.1 percent. Pulaski County, at 10.2 percent, is the only one of the lower 17 counties with double-figure unemployment rates.

Most job service officials agree there is a shortage of workers for entry level and unskilled positions. Employers from a number of businesses -- manufacturing, retail and fast food -- say workers are hard to find.

Statewide in Missouri, November job increases have been noted in manufacturing (900 new jobs), retail trade (4,800), health services (600) and local government jobs (1,300).

"We're concerned about the worker shortage situation," said Mitch Robinson, director of the Cape Girardeau Area Industrial Recruitment Association. Rightfully so. In the long haul, it could affect expansion efforts of existing industries. The more industry grows, the more opportunities there are for entry-level workers to advance to mid-level and skilled jobs.

Unemployment rates can be deceiving, depending on the work-force totals.

With a 10.2 percent unemployment rate, Pulaski County in Illinois has fewer than 300 unemployed for a work force of around 3,000. The Williamson and Jackson counties, which include Marion, Carbondale and Murphysboro, range in unemployment from 4 to 7.5 percent. But with a work force of more than 45,000 in the two counties, as many as 4,000 workers are unemployed.

Meanwhile, only 254 unemployed workers are reported in Missouri's Bollinger County, based on a 5.3 percent unemployment rate of a 4,799 work-force total. Perry County reports 316 jobless, based on a 3.2 percent unemployment rate and a 9,724-person work force.

One job market official noted that the economy is a little too good right now if you measure it by jobs available.

"Low employment is a mixed blessing," said Barbara Larkins, manager of the local Manpower office, which matches employers with temporary help. "There are a lot of companies poised for growth in the area, and they are looking for employees."

The Cape Girardeau and Perryville areas are great for people looking to make moves, Larkins said. "The job opportunities are there."

Manpower Inc. also conducts employment outlook surveys on a quarterly basis.

Among the companies interviewed for the Southeast Missouri first quarter 1996 outlook, 22 percent say they will add to their payrolls through January, February and March. Fifty-six percent think no adjustments will be likely, and only 11 percent anticipate layoffs.

Some manufacturers in the Cape Girardeau area have had difficulty filling jobs throughout the past year. Companies like Lee Rowan Co. at Jackson, Thorngate Ltd. at Cape Girardeau and TG-USA of Perryville welcome new job applications.

Officials of these and other companies, including many fast food restaurants, agree that it has been difficult to find sufficient people in the work force to accommodate their requirements, and they are always searching.

Unemployment rates

Following are unemployment rates for area counties in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, with November figures first, followed by October figures, and November of 1994 figures.

Southeast Missouri

Bollinger: 5.3, 5.9, 5.9.

Butler: 4.2, 4.3, 5.2.

Cape Girardeau: 2.5, 3.0, 3.3.

Dunklin: 5.0, 5.1, 6.4.

Madison: 5.4, 6.0, 6.6.

Mississippi: 5.2, 5.7, 10.0.

New Madrid: 4.6, 4.5, 6.4.

Pemiscot: 6.0, 6.1, 13.2.

Perry: 3.2, 2.9, 4.1.

Scott: 4.1, 4.4, 5.4.

Ste. Genevieve, 3.4, 3.2, 4.3.

Stoddard: 7.0, 6.9, 6.7.

Missouri: 3.2, 3.4, 4.1.

Southern Illinois

Alexander: 7.1, 8.8, 9.7.

Pulaski: 10.2, 10.3, 9.3.

Massac: 4.6, 4.9, 4.6.

Union: 6.2, 5.6, 7.1.

Jackson: 3.9, 4.5, 4.5.

Randolph: 6.0, 6.0, 6.4.

Williamson: 7.3, 7.8, 7.0.

Johnson: 7.4, 6.7, 8.3.

Illinois: 4.2, 4.7, 4.5.

U.S.: 5.3, 5.2, 5.3