With the initial wave of COVID-19-related layoffs now more than a year in the past, the six-figure over-the-year job losses that had characterized the Missouri labor market for the last nine months of 2020 and the first three months of 2021 were replaced with an increase of more than 130,000 jobs from June 2020 to June 2021.

Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from May 2021 to June 2021, but the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate also increased by a tenth of a percentage point.

Seasonally-adjusted employment increased by 4,200 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries.

The state’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in June 2021, up from 4.2 percent in May 2021.