For the week ending Jan. 3, 2021, Missouri household spending was 4% less than in January 2020. Despite lower household spending, Missouri consumers are re-entering stores at a more similar rate to last year than the U.S. average.

Migration is an important regional dynamic, as in-migrants represent new customers for businesses, new taxpayers for municipalities and new workers for local employers. This brief examine Missouri’s overall migration trends.

Relative to 2019, Missouri had 10.6% more applications filed in 2020 to start new businesses that would likely hire paid employees, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The 2020 new business application filing rate bested the 2017-to-2019 average, despite COVID-19 negatively affecting filings early in 2020. By early August — week 31 — total business applications had surpassed the prior three-year average.

The number of Missourians receiving unemployment benefits spiked in April 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic shook the economy. Since then, it has steadily declined. Although rates remain elevated, several factors point to positive hiring trends to come.

Missouri nonmetro residents have less access to primary care physicians than their metro counterparts. In 2018, metro areas contained 30 more primary care physicians per 100,000 people than nonmetro areas.

The last year has been challenging for business but our team of professional business advisors and coaches are passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated to our communities. We're excited to share our team's amazing accomplishments in this new 2020 Annual Report format.

In 2020, Missouri had 841 food and beverage manufacturers that employed nearly 47,500 workers. It ranked 13th among all states for employment in these businesses. Food and beverage manufacturing jobs have tended to concentrate in Missouri’s major cities, along the I-70 corridor and in the southwest corner of the state. In Missouri, top employers in food and beverage manufacturing include Anheuser-Busch, Conagra, General Mills, Gilster-Mary Lee, Kraft Heinz, Nestle Purina, Schreiber, Smithfield, Tyson and Triumph Foods.

A recent U.S. Census survey showed that 24% of Missouri small businesses have increased their use of online platforms since the pandemic began. Data suggest that much of the increase in businesses’ online presence occurred near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Teenagers fill many restaurant and summer hospitality jobs, but downward trends in the number and participation of younger workers is adding to staffing challenges. Learn trends about youth workers and get tips for engaging them in the world of work.

In 2019 U.S. broadband adoption was 30 percentage points or more below broadband availability levels in urban and rural counties.

Transfer payments accounted for 19.3% of personal income in Missouri in 2019. The majority came through two programs: Social Security and Medicare.

Nearly half (49%) of Missouri small businesses experienced supply chain challenges in July 2021. Occurrences of disruptions have increased.

Despite the pandemic, Missouri payroll business applications have grown and by late August were 27% higher than 2020 levels.

The successful journey of consumer goods from factory to doorstep hinges on the strength of the transportation network and the logistics industry. Home to both the “Gateway to the West” and the “Heart of America,” Missouri plays a key role in connecting the U.S. and facilitating commerce.

According to the 2020 Census, Missouri is home to 6,154,913 residents, making it the nation’s 19th largest state. Between 2010 and 2020, Missouri grew by 2.8%, a rate similar to neighboring states, but about half of the U.S. rate of 7.4%.

In August 2021, Missouri had an estimated 207,000 job openings and 123,0000 unemployed persons looking for work. For every 10 job openings, six job-seekers were available — a 0.6 ratio – suggesting a tight labor market.

Missouri’s more than 140 animal processing firms — businesses with payroll employment — supported nearly 17,500 jobs in early 2021. In Missouri, animal processing employment is 1.7 times more concentrated than the U.S. average.

In spite of increased talk about the growth of remote work, most Missourians still work on-site. More than 60% of Missourians reported living in a household where at least one person worked on-site at a workplace in the past seven days.

In 2020, Missouri had a $329.4 billion economy, the nation’s 22nd largest. Missouri's gross domestic product shrank slower than the U.S. Between 2019 and 2020, Missouri’s real gross domestic product declined 2.8%, and the U.S. economy shrank 3.4%.

The pandemic has taken its toll on employment, but some Missouri sectors continued to gain jobs from 2019 to 2021. Detailed private-sector data lets us compare recent & pre-pandemic trends, as well as differences between metro & nonmetro areas.

Our 2021 annual report is only a glimpse at the tremendous impact the Missouri SBDC business counselors and coaches had in their communities. I encourage you to watch the client videos and read the stories within the report to see the vast experience and expertise our network has and how that is used to serve all types of businesses.

Over 61,000 students graduated from Missouri high schools in 2020. 36% of 2020 graduates elected to pursue post-secondary education at a 4-year institution, while approximately 25% of 2020 graduates went directly into the workforce.

Commuting data analysis from the past two decades show that in 2019, over half of Missouri commuters left their home county for work, compared to 4 in 10 Missouri out-commuters in 2002.

Enterprise services, capabilities, and systems supporting the end-to-end Procure-to-Pay (P2P) business process.

Comprehensive, cost-effective platform that provides companies, institutions & organizations with cybersecurity information, resources, tools & training. Mission: To improve cybersecurity readiness, resiliency & compliance for small/medium-sized businesses & the federal manufacturing supply chain.