Missouri employers added an estimated 2,100 jobs in August while the state unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, giving the state a modestly stronger labor-market reading even as the national picture remained comparatively steady.
The state had 3.016 million nonfarm payroll jobs in August, up from 3.014 million in July and 2.982 million a year earlier, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' state payroll table released September 18. That translates to gains of about 2,100 jobs for the month and 34,100 over the year. The estimates are seasonally adjusted and preliminary, meaning they may be revised as more employer records become available.
Construction provided the clearest monthly lift. The sector added an estimated 2,200 jobs in August and employed 8,800 more people than a year earlier. Trade, transportation and utilities added 1,100 jobs during the month. Those gains offset smaller declines in manufacturing, professional and business services, and government employment.
The longer-term industry pattern was broader than the one-month change. Education and health services and leisure and hospitality each had 9,100 more jobs than in August 2025. Professional and business services and trade, transportation and utilities each were up 4,700. Government employment, by contrast, was down 2,000 from a year earlier, while manufacturing was down 500.
More Missourians were working
A separate survey of households also moved in a favorable direction. Missouri's labor force increased by 2,618 people in August to 3,169,856, while the number of unemployed residents declined by 1,122 to 112,415, according to the BLS labor-force table. The implied number of employed residents rose by 3,740 during the month to about 3.057 million.
The unemployment rate declined from 3.6% in July to 3.5% in August. It was 4.0% in August 2025. The Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis' Missouri series provides the historical record and identifies the rate as seasonally adjusted.
Payroll jobs and resident employment are not interchangeable measures. The payroll survey counts jobs at establishments and can include commuters or people holding more than one job; the household survey counts employed Missouri residents. Their simultaneous improvement in August is useful confirmation, but month-to-month estimates still carry sampling error.
How to read the state result
Missouri's 3.5% unemployment rate was below the 4.1% national rate reported for August. Still, the BLS state summary said unemployment rates were statistically stable in 42 states and the District of Columbia during the month. Only four states posted statistically significant payroll increases.
That context argues against treating a one-tenth-point rate decline as a dramatic shift. The more durable signal is the combination of a growing labor force, fewer unemployed residents and a payroll count 34,100 above its year-earlier level. For employers and job seekers, August's data point to continued expansion, led over the past year by health, education, leisure and construction rather than by government or manufacturing.
