A monthly report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday show St. Joseph’s unemployment rate has dropped to 3.8 percent, the lowest it has been since April of 2007.
In a news release issued by the St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Patt Lilly said Gallup Inc. may be looking at the city.
“I recently got a call from the Missouri Chamber saying Gallup may call me to figure out how we do it,” said Lilly. “We were able to continue growing local business and employment thanks to St. Joseph’s strong agricultural companies, as well as a diverse wealth of other employers.”
The city is below state average of 5.9 and the national average of 5.8.
Other Missouri cities also saw drops in unemployment rates with Columbia at 3.1 percent and Jefferson City tied with St. Joseph at 3.8.
However, according to the Chamber St. Joseph has a distinction that the other cities did not.
The Missouri Chamber of Commerce recently commissioned Gallup Inc. to perform a study of Missouri Business Dynamics between the years 1977-2011. That study showed the Missouri’s major metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) grew at different rates at different times during the last three decades.
“Growth slowed over most of that time in each MSA except St. Joseph (one of the top consistently growing MSAs in the country 2001-2011),” it stated in the Gallup report.
The release said that while every other Missouri MSA saw a decline in either or both employment growth or increase in firms, St. Joseph was the only city to see growth in both categories.
Lilly said that in times of recession, the world’s population still has to eat, because St. Joseph is the top exporter of goods worldwide from Missouri behind St. Louis and Kansas City. So agricultural science companies continued strong production and animal health companies, which work closely with the agriculture market, were able to grow.Food processing companies also maintained its strong presence in the local economy.
“St. Joseph should be aware of and proud of its economic success,” Lilly said. “With the hard work of the City of St. Joseph, Buchanan County, State of Missouri and local business investors, we’ll continue to be a statewide leader in 2015 and the years to come.”