Jobs are still being shed - but the local economy may finally begin emerging from the cellar.

St. Joseph is one of six cities in Missouri and 79 cities in the nation that went from "recession" to "recovery" mode in August, according to the most recent analysis by Moody's Economy.com.

The economic consulting firm uses a city's employment, new home construction, industrial production and house prices to compile its index. It says St. Joseph has seen a quick shift from recession to recovery, but expansion will be slow as worries over unemployment and high federal debt persist.

There are some signs that the wheels of a broader economic recovery may have begun turning away from recession. The St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce says some companies that have grown recently are being quiet out of respect for those that aren't doing as well.

The global recession dried up the appetites of customers worldwide for manufactured goods - and several local manufacturing companies cut jobs this year.

But nationally there have been gains in industrial production since July - as more U.S. factories made more cars, clothing and other goods as inflation remained in check.

Snorkel International in nearby Elwood, Kan., has been subject to boom-and-bust cycles for years. Its biggest hit was in the second quarter last year, when the economic downturn hit the worst in construction and manufacturing - two industries closely tied to its aerial lift business.

Now with a shift in business to meet growing demand for repairing and reconditioning aging equipment fleets, its new machine sales go mostly to markets in Asia. It hopes its domestic sales pick up by early next year as business conditions improve.

"We're cautiously optimistic that it will be better this spring, but we really don't have firm visibility of that," said David Smith, Snorkel's vice president of operations.

St. Joseph's market clusters in animal health, animal nutrition and agriculture have softened the recession's impact on the local economy, said Cyndra Lorey with the St. Joseph Area Chamber of Commerce.

In the economic downturn a decade ago, there were large plant closings from companies associated with the construction industry, she said. Now the local economy is more diverse.

"We just have the right blend of companies to be able to weather the storm a little better than other communities have, and as things have begun to slowly come back, we just don't have as far to come back from," said Ms. Lorey, the Chamber's executive director of business relations and development.

Moody's Economy.com culled its information from government labor, census, housing and industrial data. In Missouri, all large cities are in recovery except Cape Girardeau, Columbia and Jefferson City.

Jason Kunkel, a Moody's associate economist who tracks Missouri, expects all areas in the state to soon be in recovery mode.

He contrasts Missouri's relatively mild recession to those in California and Florida, which don't have any cities in recovery mode.

"Missouri is a good gauge of how the U.S. is," and its performance will give an early read on the growth path of the national recovery, Mr. Kunkel said.

St. Joseph, he said, with a diverse mix of companies and industry, seems to be heading in the right direction in key economic indicators. Mr. Kunkel cautions, however, that jobs will still be shed as employment is a lagging indicator.

"Just because we've begun the recovery," he said, "doesn't mean that people aren't still losing their jobs."

Ahmad Safi can be reached

at ahmadsafi@npgco.com. The Associated Press contributed to this story.