Some good news, some bad news in details of new jobless numbers

As we reported in today’s paper, the Bureau of Labor Statistics posted July jobless numbers that show metropolitan St. Louis with its highest unemployment rate since February 1992: 7.2 percent.

But, as any economist will point out, those numbers are not seasonally-adjusted, meaning they don’t take into account the month-to-month variations that can make gauging unemployment a somewhat tricky thing. That means its hard to make comparisons across different months; at best we can compare this July to past ones.

But Howard Wall, a regional economist at the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, keeps track of those numbers on a seasonally-adjusted basis. And his findings, which he shared with us, show some good news, and some bad news.

First off, the good: Seasonally adjusted, the nine-county St. Louis metropolitan area had an unemployment rate in July of 6.7 percent, which at least sounds better than 7.2.

But then, the bad: We haven’t seen a seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate of 6.7 percent or higher since January, 1992, one month earlier than the non-seasonally-adjusted high.