For the month of April, Missouri employers added more than 12,000 new jobs while the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.6 percent.
That’s according to data released Tuesday by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The Department reported the leisure and hospitality sector added 4,800 jobs, the professional and business services sector with 4,300 new jobs, and the trade, transportation and utilities sector with 2,500 new jobs added in April.
Gov. Jay Nixon attributed part of the job increase to a gain of science and tech. industry jobs. A report released Tuesday by TechAmerica ranks Missouri the third best state when it came to adding tech jobs in 2012
The gains were partly offset by losses of about 700 jobs in construction and 700 in financial activities.
Missouri’s current rate has now fallen three full points since its peak of 9.6 percent in August 2009. April is the 44th consecutive month that Missouri’s unemployment rate fell below the national rate, which sits at 7.5 percent.