Missouri, Kansas follow national unemployment rise

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.kansascity.com/382/story/672312.html

Posted on Fri, Jun. 20, 2008 11:06 AM

Joblessness increased in nearly every state in May, including Missouri and Kansas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today.

The unemployment rate in Missouri rose 0.8 percentage point from 5.2 percent in April to 6 percent in May. In Kansas, the jobless rate rose 0.6 percentage point, from 4 percent to 4.6 percent.

The bureau noted that over the last 12 months, Missouri’s unemployment rate increased by 1.2 percent, while the rate in Kansas rose just 0.4 percent.

Nationally, the jobless rate was 1 percent higher in May 2008 than May 2007.

State unemployment rates last month ranged from a high of 8.5 percent in Michigan to a low of 2.9 percent in South Dakota and Wyoming.

| Diane Stafford, [e-mail]