The 2019 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of St. Louis was $152.4 billion.[4] That makes St. Louis the 22nd highest GDP in the United States.[5] According to the 2017 Economic Census, manufacturing in the St. Louis, MO-IL metro area conducted $53.3 billion in business, followed by the retail trade with $51.3 billion, the healthcare and social service industry with $22.5 billion, and professional, scientific, and technical services with $15.1 billion. The sector employing the largest number of workers in the area was the healthcare sector with 199,463 workers, followed by retail with 142,553 workers, food service with 130,628 workers, administrative and support jobs with 107,862 workers, and manufacturing with 107,501 workers.[6] As of July 2013, the city of St. Louis had 143,147 workers in its labor force with 127,687 employed, 15,460 unemployed, and an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent.[7]
Unemployment in May 2014 fell 0.1% to 7.2%, nearly one percent above the national rate of 6.3% in that month.[8]
The Swedish furniture retailer IKEA opened a 21-acre complex in the Central West End, including a 380,000 square foot store that added approximately 300 jobs.[9] The company opened its new store on September 30, 2015.[10][11]
The Mississippi River and Missouri River in St. Louis play a large role in moving goods, especially bulk commodities such as grain, coal, salt, and certain chemicals and petroleum products. In 2004, the Port of St. Louis was the third-largest inland port by tonnage in the country, and the 21st-largest of any sort.[12] St. Louis is also the nation's third-largest railroad hub, moving everything from fertilizer, gravel, crushed stone, prepared foodstuffs, fats, oils, nonmetallic mineral products, grain, alcohol, and tobacco products to motorized vehicles and parts.[13]
