Trendsights Newsletter

Career Pathways: Education
Career Pathways are groups of occupations within a career field. Occupations within pathways share common skills, knowledge, and interests. In the Education sector, most employees interact with students and others on a daily basis, so being able to communicate effectively, both individually and in groups, is necessary. From Office Support to Instructors and Administrators, there are a variety of job opportunities in the Education sector. Click on the above link to learn more about these career pathways and opportunities.
Middle Skills Top Openings
Middle-skill occupations require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree. The middle-skill occupations with the most total job openings from 2020 to 2030 are Restaurant Cooks, Heavy and Tractor-Trailer Truck Drivers, and Nursing Assistants. These three occupations are projected to have over 16,000 job openings per year combined through 2030. While the average annual wage for all middle-skill occupations is $47,836, some middle-skill occupations earn considerably more. The middle-skill occupation with the highest average annual wage was Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers, with an average annual wage of over $100,000.
Middle-Skills Jobs Report
Middle-skill occupations are essential to Missouri’s workforce, accounting for 40 percent of all jobs. These occupations require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a bachelor’s degree. Middle-skill occupations are projected to account for over 124,000 annual job openings from 2020 to 2030, representing 35.4 percent of all job openings during the period. Read more about middle-skill occupations and explore the occupational groups with the largest percentage of jobs in this series of reports.
Winter Holiday Outlook Fun Facts 2023
This holiday season, 6 in 10 shoppers did not plan to complete their purchases until December. Total holiday spending is forecasted to be more than $957 billion, with with over $29 billion spent on gift cards alone. See this and other fun facts for travel plans, shipping, spending, and Christmas trees in this quick winter holiday outlook.
Career Pathways Reports
Career Pathways are groups of occupations within a career field. Occupations within a pathway share common skills, knowledge, and interests. Workers can progress along a pathway by continuing to build skills and education throughout their careers. Each of these Career Pathways reports show possible pathways within 11 key industries in Missouri, including occupations that can be started soon with short-term on-the-job training to those that require additional certificates or credentials.
Gross Domestic Product Updates
The broadest measure of economic activity is the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Gross Domestic Product by State (GSP) measures the value-added from industries in a state. Missouri ranked 21st nationally in GSP in 2022 at $336.63 billion in inflation-adjusted (chained 2017) dollars. This total represented a 2 percent increase from 2021 to 2022. Nationally, inflation-adjusted GDP increased 1.9 percent over the same period. Visit the GDP Data Series page at the link above for dashboards of GDP for Missouri, along with its regions, metropolitan statistical areas, and counties.
Job Postings Comparison October 2023
Job postings decreased by 29 percent from October 2022 to October 2023. In October 2023, there were 80,480 online job postings compared to 57,220 in October 2022. The October 2023 seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in Missouri was higher than the unemployment rate of 2.7 percent a year ago.
Missouri Manufacturing Dashboard
Manufacturing is a major component of Missouri’s $389.9 billion economy. Manufacturing accounts for 11.6 percent of the state’s private sector employment, with 282,255 jobs across 7,636 establishments. Manufacturing wages continue to grow statewide and nationally. Missouri’s 2022 manufacturing payroll totaled $19.1 billion, with an average annual wage of $67,575. This Missouri Manufacturing dashboard shows information about manufacturing employment and wage trends for Missouri and its counties, along with details about Missouri’s’ manufacturing exports.
STEM Occupations in Missouri
STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and STEM-Related occupations are some of the most in-demand and highest paying jobs in Missouri. The need for such employees is projected to grow about one and a half times more than the average for all occupations. The projected growth rate for STEM and STEM-Related occupations from 2020-2030 is 11.05 percent, while the statewide average growth rate for all occupations is 7.3 percent. By 2030, the total employment for STEM and STEM-Related occupations is expected to be more than 433,000, an increase of over 43,000 jobs.
Thanksgiving Fun Facts
Nearly 9 in 10 Americans plan to eat turkey on Thanksgiving this year, gobbling up 46 million turkeys. Missouri produced 18 million turkeys in 2023 and was ranked in the top five for turkey production in the nation. Learn more fun facts about Thanksgiving and Missouri’s contribution to the main course at the link above.
Cost of Living Third Quarter 2023
Missouri had the sixth lowest cost of living in the United States for the third quarter of 2023. 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. MERIC derives the cost of living index for each state by averaging the indices of participating cities and metropolitan areas in that state. Missouri’s cost of living index for the third quarter 2023 was 88.3.
State-to-State Migration
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released estimates of the number of people moving between the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and movement to the United States from abroad. Kansas and Illinois were the states where the largest number of Missouri residents moved from and moved to during the year. See data for all 50 states in this new release.
Missouri and Regional Economic Reports
The 2023 Missouri Economic and Workforce Report provides a broad overview of Missouri’s economy in the last year, tracking a selection of meaningful indicators. The 2023 report finds many economic indicators for the state have returned to or even exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Regionally, growth has varied across the state. Learn more about Missouri's statewide and regional economies in this year’s report.
Target Industry: Information Technology
The Information Technology industry includes sectors such as software publishers and data processing, as well as professional and technical services related to the industry, including computer system design, technical consulting, and research and development services. Information Technology represents 3.8 percent of total private sector employment in Missouri, employing 91,105 workers across 15,027 establishments in 2022.
Halloween Fun Facts
Celebrate Halloween with some spooky facts and figures. Total spending in the nation for Halloween is estimated to reach $12.2 billion, with the average person spending $108.24. Indulge in a Cherry Mash from Missouri’s oldest candy company in St. Joseph, or visit the Missouri State Penitentiary in Jefferson City for a ghost tour. Click on the link above to learn more scary facts about Halloween.
Target Industry: Manufacturing
The Manufacturing industry includes material and product producers and the industries that support them. As a target industry, manufacturing establishments are located in every county in Missouri. The industries with the most employment growth in Missouri in the last five years were Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing, Machinery Manufacturing, Chemical Manufacturing, and Food Manufacturing.
Manufacturing: Concentrated Missouri Industry
Industry concentration analysis using location quotients (LQ) helps identify the industries that are more specialized in the state. Overall, the Manufacturing sector in Missouri has an LQ of 1.18, indicating the industry is more concentrated in the state than in the U.S. At the three-digit NAICS industry level, Manufacturing represents six of the top 10 most concentrated industries in Missouri. Click on the link above to learn more about Missouri manufacturing industries.
September Online Job Postings
There were 59,640 new job postings in Missouri in September 2023, according to data from Lightcast™. This was lower than the 63,510 postings in August 2023. The St. Louis region had 1,650 Manufacturing industry job postings in September 2023, followed by Kansas City (860), Central (310), Southwest (160), and Northwest (140). Click on the link above to view more job postings for Missouri and its regions.
Fortune 500: Missouri Home to Eight Businesses
Eight Missouri-based companies are on the 2022 Fortune 500 list published in July 2023. Centene was the highest ranked Fortune 500 Company in Missouri. Most of Missouri’s Fortune 500 companies are based in the St. Louis area, with one in Springfield (O’Reilly Automotive). Missouri’s Fortune 500 companies employed approximately 19,400 individuals at their Missouri locations and paid over $2.3 billion in wages in 2022.
Manufacturing Occupation and Skill Needs
During 2022, there were more than 72,000 online job postings for the Manufacturing industry in Missouri. The occupations with the most postings were Computer Occupations, Software Developers, Managers, and Production Workers. Some of the top specialized skills requested in online job postings for Manufacturing included project management, budgeting, and quality assurance and control. Communication skills were found in 35 percent of total Manufacturing job postings.
Celebrating Manufacturing
The U.S. Census Bureau is celebrating the 12th anniversary of Manufacturing Day with a variety of information and statistics about this important industry. Launched by the Manufacturing Institute in 2011 as the first Friday in October and later expanded into Manufacturing Week, this period celebrates the history and contributions of manufacturing the economy.
Manufacturing in Missouri
Manufacturing is a major component of Missouri’s $389.93 billion economy, representing 12.4 percent ($48.35 billion) of the total gross state product. Manufacturing accounts for 11.6 percent of the state’s private sector employment, with 282,255 jobs across 7,636 establishments. The industry has added 16,392 jobs since 2017, growing 6.2 percent over five years. This is more than double the 2.8 percent national growth rate over the same period. Click on the link above to learn more about Missouri’s manufacturing industry.
Bioscience Labor Market Summary
There were more than 8,500 online job postings for the Biosciences industry from January 2022 to December 2022. The top occupation was Managers, All Other, making up 5.9 percent of total industry job postings for the time period. Some of the most frequently requested specialized skills include project management, budgeting, and customer service.
Target Industry: Biosciences
The Biosciences industry includes production, services, and research and development sectors. Biosciences represents 2 percent of total private sector employment in Missouri, employing 48,628 workers across 3,327 establishments in 2022. The average annual private wage in Biosciences in 2022 was $77,615. Click on the link above to learn more about the Bioscience industry in Missouri.