The unemployment rate for metropolitan Kansas City fell to 6.8 percent in June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated Wednesday.

That’s 1.5 percentage points lower than in June 2011, when 89,100 workers were listed as jobless in the metro area. Last month, the number had fallen to 72,600, the bureau said in its preliminary report.

Kansas City was among 328 metro areas — out of 372 studied — that had lower unemployment rates in June than a year earlier.

The bureau’s data also indicated there were 7,700 more employees on Kansas City area payrolls in June 2012 than June 2011. That was an employment increase of 0.8 percent, putting the employee count at 997,400 for the area.

The Kansas side of the metro area, with 44 percent of the area’s workforce, gained virtually all of the area’s jobs over the year — 7,500.

The bureau found over-the-year payroll employment growth in 268 of the metro areas nationally.

The size of the metro area workforce was pegged at 1,061,700 in June, a drop of about 8,600 from the count a year ago.

The effects of the Joplin. Mo., tornado continued to show up in the employment data — this time in a positive way as the city rebounded.

Over the 12 month period, Joplin had the largest decline in its jobless rate of any U.S. city. Joplin’s rate fell by 2.8 percentage points from June 2011 to June 2012.