ST. LOUIS — New jobless claims fell in Missouri for the third straight week and the number of people receiving unemployment benefits continued to decline as the state and country learn to live and work amid the pandemic.
Just more than 7,300 people filed for unemployment in Missouri for the first time last week, according to state figures released Thursday. And those on the jobless rolls fell by 10,000 the week ending Sept. 19, to about 68,000.
The state’s jobless rolls have steadily declined from a peak of 266,000 in May as more people returned to work. But, taking into account the number of people on federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, the federal program for self-employed workers who don’t qualify for regular unemployment insurance, the number of people receiving jobless assistance is still near levels last seen at the peak of the Great Recession in early 2009.
The PUA data, which lags by a week, show another 2,000 people signed up for that program in Missouri during the week ending Sept. 12, bringing those on the rolls that week up to 59,000.
Missouri’s official unemployment rate was 7% in August and the St. Louis region’s was 7.7%.
In Illinois, new claims ticked up by 2,000 to 28,000 the week ended Sept. 26. Those on the rolls the week before that fell by almost 50,000 to 488,000. The number of people on the PUA program in the state as of Sept. 12 increased about 2,500 to 119,000.
Jacob Barker • 314-340-8291 @jacobbarker on Twitter jbarker@post-dispatch.com
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