Trendsights Newsletter

Industry Concentration Brief and Dashboard
Industry concentration analysis, using location quotients (LQ), helps identify the industries that are more specialized in a geographic area. Businesses that are more specialized, due to exporting goods and services, or because they draw customers in from outside the state, are important sources of income and opportunity to an area. This updated industry concentration brief highlights the industries concentrated in Missouri, and new interactive Tableau dashboard can be used to explore industry concentrations for the state and its counties.
Thanksgiving Fun Facts - All About the Bird
Did you know that nearly nine in ten Americans plan to celebrate Thanksgiving this year, gobbling up 46 million turkeys? About 16.5 million of those turkeys were produced in Missouri. Learn more fun facts about Thanksgiving’s main course and its connection to Missouri at the link above.
Cost of Living Third Quarter
Missouri had the 12th lowest cost of living in the United States for the third quarter 2021. St. Joseph, Missouri was newly added to the cost of living series this quarter. All of the participating Missouri cities had a composite index below the national average for the third quarter 2021, with Joplin the lowest overall index in the state. See the indices for groceries, housing, utilities, and other categories for all states and seven of Missouri’s larger cities for the third quarter.
Real-Time Job Summaries
Missouri employers posted 179,615 job ads from July through September, with 79 percent for full-time positions. Health Care and Social Assistance was the industry with the largest number of job postings, making up 30 percent of the total. Click on the above link to see the summaries for the state and each region.
Halloween Fun Facts
Celebrate Halloween along the 66 percent of Midwesterners, including Missourians, who plan to celebrate this year, with some ghostly facts and figures. Total spending in the nation for Halloween is estimated to reach $10 billion, with the average person spending $102.74. Candy is expected to make up one-third of that spending, some of which may be on products from Missouri’s 21 chocolate and candy manufacturing companies.
Missouri Data Center Population Demographics Tool
The Missouri Data Center (MCDC) population trends with demographics data tool now has data through 2020 for the nation, states, and counties. Use this tool to quickly see population changes by race and age over time.
Central Region Profile
Missouri's Central Region has more than 306,400 employees, making up 10 percent of Missouri's employment. Health Care and Social Assistance was the largest industry sector in the region, with more than 43,000 jobs in 2020. Learn more about the Central Region in this annual profile.
Manufacturing in America
Manufacturing in America plays a major role in our economy with 12.1 million employees producing goods that are consumed domestically and exported to other countries. Manufacturing is the fifth largest industry in America with an average yearly wage of $61,127. Click on the link above to learn more about manufacturing and the industry’s important contribution to the U.S. economy.
Manufacturing Industries for Building and Furnishing a Home
Industries that manufacture all the materials you need to build and furnish a home — from windows and doors to kitchen appliances — employ thousands and generate billions of dollars in revenue in the U.S. Click on the link above to see an interactive visualization showing the value of and employment for select manufacturing industries responsible for materials that go into a home.
Missouri Economic and Workforce Report 2021
The 2021 Missouri Economic and Workforce Report gives a broad overview of Missouri’s economy in the last year, tracking a selection of meaningful indicators. At the time of publishing this report, Missouri’s economy is in recovery from the health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as are the U.S. and world economies. See the snapshot of Missouri’s economy and a profile of each of the 10 regions in this annual report.
Missouri Fortune 500 Companies
Fortune Magazine recently released its 2020 Fortune 500 rankings. Ten Missouri-based companies were included in this year’s Fortune 500 list. Centene was the highest ranked Missouri company, up to 24 from 42 last year, with revenues of $111.1 billion.
Missouri Ranks 3rd for Manufacturing Employees
Missouri employed 275,300 employees in manufacturing in August 2021, ranking third among bordering states behind Illinois (551,700) and Tennessee (350,800). According to seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics program, Missouri manufacturing employment was up by 4,500 jobs compared to July 2021, and up by more than 9,000 jobs compared to last year. Click on the link above to see a map of how Missouri compares to other states.
Celebrate Manufacturing Week with the U.S. Census Bureau
Manufacturing Week is a celebration by the U.S. Census Bureau that expands upon the traditional Manufacturing Day launched by the Manufacturing Institute in 2011 on the first Friday in October. The Census Bureau is celebrating the 10th anniversary by providing a week’s worth of rich content and statistics that inform businesses and policymakers. The Manufacturing Week home page has valuable manufacturing statistics, data products, and visualizations to paint a picture of the state of this vital economic sector.
Missouri Manufacturing Industries
Manufacturing is a major component of Missouri’s $321.7 billion economy, representing 11.8 percent ($37.97 billion) of the 2020 total Gross State Product (GSP). Manufacturing also makes up 11.7 percent of the state’s private sector employment with 266,439 jobs across 6,864 establishments. Click on the above link to learn more about Missouri' Manufacturing Industry.
Missouri Economic Diversity
A diversified economy is one with many industries that is more balanced and can better manage fluctuations in the business cycle. Using an index of the distribution of state gross domestic product across industries, Missouri ranked fourth in the index for economic diversity in 2020, retaining the same rank as in 2019.
Missouri Small Business Profile 2021
A diversified economy is one with many industries that is more balanced and can better manage fluctuations in the business cycle. Using an index of the distribution of state gross domestic product across industries, Missouri ranked fourth in the index for economic diversity in 2020, retaining the same rank as in 2019.
BLS Occupational Outlook: Financial Examiners
Most Financial Examiners work for the finance and insurance industry and federal and state government, examining and ensuring compliance with laws that govern institutions handling monetary transactions. To work in the field, one typically needs a bachelor’s degree that includes some coursework in accounting. In Missouri, Financial Examiners had an average wage of $86,290 in 2020. Click on the above link to learn more about Financial Examiners and their job outlook.
Career Pathways: Financial and Professional Services
Careers in Financial and Professional Services frequently involve interactions with the public, making skills in customer service and acting as a professional company representative important for this career pathway. Important industry-wide technical skills for a career in this field include familiarity with relevant codes and regulations, as well as knowledge of business operations and financial reporting. Missouri has a strong presence in the Financial and Professional Services industry, being home to several Fortune 1000 companies. Career opportunities in Legal Services, Business Operations, Sales and Marketing, and Financial and Insurance Services are possible pathways in this field.
August Online Job Postings Now Available
August job postings data show Registered Nurses and Retail Salespersons were the occupations with the most new job postings in Missouri. The Top Job Postings interactive dashboard uses data from Burning Glass Technologies for new job postings trends and occupations with the most postings from month-to-month for Missouri and the Workforce Development Areas.
Business Index Continues to Remain High
For more than a year, the Creighton University Mid-America Business Conditions Index, a leading economic indicator for the nine-state region stretching from Minnesota to Arkansas, remained at or above an expansionary level. Economists consider the index, which measures such factors as new orders, production, supplier delivery times, backlogs, inventories, prices, employment, import orders and exports, a key economic indicator. Typically, a score greater than 50 indicates an expansionary economy while a score below 50 forecasts a sluggish economy. Missouri’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for August was 75.2, increasing 3.9 points from July and in expansion territory, according to the monthly index.
Missouri 2020 Interactive Census Profile
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released new state profiles looking at the demographic changes the 2020 Census results reveal. Dashboards in this profile show how Missouri's state and county population by age and diversity, as well as housing units, has changed in the last decade.
Second Quarter Cost of Living 2021
Missouri had the 8th lowest cost of living in the United States for the second quarter 2021. In general, the most expensive areas to live were Hawaii, Alaska, the Northeast, and the West Coast. The least expensive areas were the Midwest and Southern states. For the past 18 quarters, Missouri has been in the top 10 for lowest cost of living in the nation. Cities across the nation participate in the Council for Community & Economic Research (C2ER) survey on a volunteer basis. Price information in the survey is governed by C2ER collection guidelines.
Career Pathways: Health Science
Career Pathways are groups of occupations within a career field. Occupations within a pathway share common skills, knowledge, and interests. The pathways use industry-recognized credentials and are examples of how different levels of training or education can help provide opportunities for career advancement. The health care industry provides a variety of work opportunities for every interest. From jobs that directly care for patients to careers that keep the whole system going, important jobs are waiting to be filled in Patient Care, Diagnostic/Therapeutic roles, and Business Operation.
Missouri Personal and Per Capita Income 2020
Per capita income in Missouri was $51,177 in 2020, a 5.2 percent increase from 2019. The District of Columbia again led the nation with the highest per capita income at $87,064, followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and New Jersey. The per capita income for the U.S. was $59,729. Missouri's total personal income increased by 5.4 percent in 2020 and the nation's personal income increased by 6.1 percent. These increases were largely due to financial supports provided to support economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.