Cape County's jobless rate held steady last month

The jobless rate in Cape Girardeau County remained at 5.3% for the second consecutive month in March, according to the latest data released this week by the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The county's unemployment rate is higher than at any time in the past six months, and just over a full percentage point above the county's jobless rate of 4.2% at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, at 5.3%, Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate last month was within the 4% to 6% range many economists consider "full employment," the point at which there are an adequate number of job seekers available to fill available job openings.

There were only 276 initial claims for unemployment benefits filed in Cape Girardeau County last month, more than 50 fewer than in February and the lowest number of initial filings since February of last year when there were just 139 first-time benefit claims. That number mushroomed to more than 5,000 two months later when the pandemic forced many businesses to close resulting in thousands of job losses.

Missouri's overall unemployment rate declined slightly last month, from 4.3% in February to 4.2% in March. That's about a half-percentage point higher than the state's 3.7% rate in March 2020. Missouri's total payroll decreased by just over 100,000 jobs in the past 12 months, according to MERIC, the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center.

Adjacent and nearby counties

While Cape Girardeau County's unemployment rate was unchanged last month, the rates in adjacent counties declined slightly in March. Bollinger County's rate dropped last month from 5.5% to 5.0%, while the jobless rates in Perry and Scott counties both declined 0.7% in March, to 5.5% and 5.6%, respectively.

The Missouri labor department reports most Southeast Missouri counties had significantly lower unemployment rates in March compared to the prior month. Those county-by-county unemployment rates last month, compared to February percentages, were as follows:

• Butler -- 6.5%, up from 5.7%.
• Carter -- 3.5%, down from 7.0%.
• Dunklin -- 4.0%, down from 7.1%.
• Iron -- 4.3%, down from 7.0%.
• Madison -- 3.4%, down from 5.4%.
• Mississippi -- 3.9%, down from 5.6%.
• New Madrid -- 3.4%, down from 5.3%.
• Pemiscot -- 2.9%, down from 7.6%.
• Ripley -- 4.0%, down from 6.7%.
• St. Francois -- 6.6%, up from 5.9%.
• Ste. Genevieve -- 4.6%, up from 4.4%.
• Stoddard -- 5.3%, down from 5.4%.
• Wayne -- 4.7%, down from 5.9%.

Across the river in Southern Illinois, the Illinois Department of Employment Security reports Alexander County had a March jobless rate of 8.3%, up from 8.1% in February, while Union County's rate also ticked upward last month, rising to 6.7% in March from 6.6% the month prior.

Pulaski County, just east of Alexander County in Southern Illinois, had the state's highest unemployment rate in March. At 10.3%, it was the only county with double-digit unemployment last month, rising from 10.0% in February.

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