The Missouri Board of Education is expected to vote Tuesday on a recommendation to get more K-12 substitute teachers in the classroom. Last August, the board voted to temporarily give prospective substitute teachers the choice to take an online training course of about 20 hours or fulfill the standard 60 college credit hours. […]
Tag: shortage
Less than half of Missouri nursing home staff vaccinated, reviving fear of lockdowns
(Missouri Independent) – Many of the staff and residents in Shunda Whitfield’s St. Louis County nursing home were sick before they even realized what was going on. It was April 2020, and masks weren’t yet standard practice. Little was known about COVID before it swept through nursing homes, and as a certified nursing assistant, Whitfield […]
Audio: Fertilizer projected to approach near-record high prices in 2022
(Brownfield Network) – Fertilizer prices are expected to approach record high levels in 2022, bringing costs to the farmer up with them. Farm Management Specialist Gary Schnitkey with the University of Illinois tells Brownfield the price of major fertilizers in Illinois increased at least 50% in 2021, which will translate to higher fertilizer costs in […]
Audio: MoDOT has lost more than half of its 5100-person workforce over the past four years
Like many industries dealing with worker shortages, so is the Missouri Department of Transportation. MoDOT Director Patrick McKenna says his department has had a high turnover rate for several years. The current state budget includes a pay raise for MoDOT workers, but Missouri still has one of the lowest-paid state workforces in the […]
Blood drive in memory of Zach Cupp set for July 31 in Marceline
The American Red Cross is partnering with Marceline Fire and Rescue and family and friends of Zach Cupp to host a blood drive in Cupp’s memory for the 10th consecutive year. Blood donations will be accepted at the Walsworth Community Center of Marceline July 31st from 8 to 3 o’clock. Cupp died as the result […]
As COVID-19 causes hospitals to fill, Springfield asks Missouri for temporary care site
(Missouri Independent) – Facing a looming shortage of beds caused by rapidly rising COVID-19 cases, healthcare providers in Springfield are asking the state to set up temporary hospital beds so existing hospital space can be dedicated to caring for the most severely ill. The alternate care site would treat patients stable enough to be removed […]
Jobs report for June 2021 shows unemployment creeping up to 4.3%
With the initial wave of COVID-19-related layoffs now more than a year in the past, the six-figure over-the-year job losses that had characterized the Missouri labor market for the last nine months of 2020 and the first three months of 2021 were replaced with an increase of more than 130,000 jobs from June 2020 to […]
“Surge response team” arrives in Missouri amid COVID-19 spike caused by Delta variant
(Missouri Independent) – As federal officials land in Missouri at the request of the state to assist with combatting a wave of new COVID cases spurred by the Delta variant, Gov. Mike Parson publicly rebuffed outreach strategies President Joe Biden touted. On Tuesday, a member of the newly-created federal surge response team arrived in the […]
Jobs report for May 2021 shows slight increase in Missouri unemployment numbers
Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from April 2021 to May 2021, but the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by a tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 6,000 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in May […]
After winter cold snap drove up natural gas prices, utilities grapple with who should pay
(Missouri Independent) – Penalties that Spire Missouri issued to suppliers who failed to provide natural gas during a February cold snap that forced power outages across the Midwest could drive bills for hospitals, schools, and businesses to astronomical levels, according to a trio of complaints pending before state regulators. During the worst of the cold snap in February, […]
May jobs report shows Missouri unemployment rate at 4.2%
Missouri non-farm payroll employment increased from April 2021 to May 2021, but the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by a tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 6,000 jobs over the month, with job gains in both goods-producing and service-providing industries. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.2 percent in May […]
University of Missouri study says 97 of 114 Missouri counties have nursing shortage areas
While the United States faces a nationwide nursing shortage, a recent study at the University of Missouri found rural Missouri counties experience nursing shortages at a greater rate than the state’s metropolitan counties. In addition, the study found rural Missouri counties have a higher percentage of older nurses nearing retirement, which could have a severe impact on […]
Lawmakers introduce Bill to improve housing services for survivors of human trafficking
U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.), Sherrod Brown (Ohio), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, and Dick Durbin (Ill.), as well as U.S. Representatives Joyce Beatty (Ohio) and Ann Wagner (Mo.), introduced legislation that would commission a study reviewing current homelessness and housing services for survivors of trafficking. “We can […]
Audio: Some Missouri ambulance districts struggle to keep first responders, attract new ones
Some Missouri ambulance districts are having problems keeping first responders and attracting new recruits, including in the northeast part of the state. Aaron Stutheit, the Lewis County Ambulance District Administrator, says he has EMTs and paramedics coming from St. Louis and Columbia to help fill shifts. He says another struggle has been finding […]
Audio: Starting Saturday, Missouri will no longer offer additional federal pandemic unemployment benefits
Starting Saturday, Missouri will no longer offer additional federal pandemic unemployment benefits. A growing number of Republican-controlled states have chosen to end the federal aid that added $300 per week. Last month, Governor Parson announced the decision because he said the extra funding is causing worker shortages among some Missouri businesses. Missouri House […]
Missouri Governor says federal unemployment programs have given public incentive to stay out of the workforce
Saying that there’s a labor shortage across Missouri, Governor Mike Parson (R) has issued a directive to the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to end all federal pandemic-related unemployment benefits. Missouri’s House Democratic Leader is blasting the decision. Governor Parson made the announcement during a Tuesday afternoon briefing at the Statehouse in Jefferson […]
Missouri Jobs Report report for April, 2021, shows slight decline in unemployment rate
Missouri non-farm payroll employment showed little overall change from March 2021 to April 2021, and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by a tenth of a percentage point. Employment, seasonally adjusted, increased by 600 jobs over the month. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.1 percent in April 2021, down from 4.2 percent in […]
Free testing aims to curb STIs that went unchecked as COVID spread in Missouri
(Missouri Independent) – As the case counts of the novel coronavirus began to tick up last March across Missouri, providers who offer tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) found their resources were being pulled in two directions. Swabs were in short supply as they became needed for COVID-19 testing. Contact tracers, who reach out to […]