Region adds 21,700 jobs over year

St. Louis Post Dispatch- October 3, 2007
by Tim Barker

The St. Louis area added 21,700 jobs over the 12-month period that ended in August.

That's the region's strongest showing since the 12-month period that ended in March 2000, when 22,500 jobs were created, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It also equates to a growth rate of 1.6 percent. That's not rapid-fire expansion, but it is the seventh consecutive month in which the growth rate topped the 2006 rate of 1 percent.

The news was not all good, however, as the area's unemployment rate ticked upward to 5.5 percent %u2014 reflecting more people in the job market. The unemployment rate was 5.3 percent in August 2006.

Among the areas with the strong­est showing was the construction and mining sector, which recorded a 3 percent increase in jobs. That runs counter to what's happening nationally, with a slowdown in the sector sapping construction employment.

St. Louis has so far been able to escape the brunt of that, in part because the local housing market never really exploded like it did in some previously hot areas of the country. There also are some major projects under way in the region, including the rebuilding of Highway 40, said Jack Strauss, an economist at St. Louis University.

"It's probably a good thing to have Highway 40," Strauss said. "That came at a good time."

Also adding jobs were leisure and hospitality, 3.6 percent; educational and health services, 2.4 percent; and professional and business services, 2.1 percent. Manufacturing, which has suffered considerably in recent years, recorded a modest decline of 0.4 percent.

Growth in the business and professional services category generally has been heralded by local economists as a sign of strength. The category includes a wide range of jobs, but many are higher-paying white-collar professions that can indicate an expanding economy.

Economists also point out, however, that the U.S. Labor Department's numbers are often revised later.

Such was the case earlier this year, when revisions changed the 2006 estimate from a loss of 400 jobs in St. Louis to a gain of 13,600 jobs.