By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The unemployment rate for the metropolitan St. Louis area - and that includes the Metro East -- remained the same in July.
The 9.9 percent jobless rate was identical to June's. Unfortunately, it's the highest rate in years and almost 3 percent higher than July of 2008. The national jobless rate was 9.4 percent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that 43,900 jobs were lost in the region over the past year. The largest losses were in the manufacturing sector.
There is some good news, though - jobs were actually added in the areas of education and health services and in government.