The metro St. Louis unemployment rate stayed at 7.2 percent in August, the same as in July, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. That represents a sharp increase from August 2007, when the local jobless rate was 5.6 percent.

As we mentioned earlier, a separate Labor Department survey shows that St. Louis lost 11,100 jobs between August 2007 and August 2008. The 7.2 percent unemployment rate, which is not seasonally adjusted, is the metro area’s highest for any month since February 1992.