David Nicklaus David Nicklaus is a business columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Follow David Nicklaus Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today

The St. Louis area lost 6,500 jobs in February, reversing much of an unusually large January gain.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics' latest seasonally adjusted data have the metro area adding 7,600 jobs in January, down from a preliminary estimate of 8,700. The new figures leave the area with a gain of 10,000 jobs, or 0.7 percent, between February 2018 and February 2019.

Payroll employment nationally grew 1.7 percent in the same 12-month period.

One remarkable aspect of the recent numbers is that St. Louis' job growth is being led by goods-producing industries. Manufacturing employment is up by 4,100 in the latest 12 months while construction and mining firms have added 2,000 jobs.

Services employment, which for years accounted for most of St. Louis' job gains, has turned mixed. Financial services firms have added 1,900 jobs and health care employers have added 1,700, but retail employment has shrunk by 3,300. Professional and business services firms, often a leading growth engine, have added just 300 jobs.

Figures for specific industries are not seasonally adjusted.

A message from David Nicklaus Want to stay smart about what's happening in St. Louis? Make a modest investment in a Post-Dispatch subscription and I'll tell you how developments around the world affect local businesses big and small. Subscribe today: Just $1 a month

Daily updates on the latest news in the St. Louis business community. Sign up! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.