St. Louis Beacon - Job Talk: Missouri sees slight drop in January unemployment; Illinois sees rise

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Job Talk: Missouri sees slight drop in January unemployment; Illinois sees rise

By Mary Delach Leonard, Beacon staff

Posted 5:02 am Wed., 3.10.10

Unemployment dropped ever so slightly in Missouri in January -- to 9.5 percent from 9.6 percent -- while Illinois saw joblessness rise to 11.3 percent, a 0.3 percent increase from December, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

By comparison, the jobless rate one year ago was 8.1 percent in both Missouri and Illinois.

Missouri was among nine states that saw a decrease in January, while 30 states and the District of Columbia saw increases. The national unemployment rate fell from 10 percent in December to 9.7 percent in January.

Michigan again led the nation with a 14.3 percent jobless rate in January, followed by Nevada at 13 percent and Rhode Island at 12.7 percent. North Dakota continued to post the lowest unemployment numbers, with a rate of 4.2 percent in January, followed by Nebraska at 4.6 and South Dakota at 4.8.

Regionally, unemployment was highest in the West -- at 10.8 percent in January -- with the Northeast reporting the lowest rate at 9.1 percent.

Contact Beacon staff writer Mary Delach Leonard.

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