Mountain-Plains Information Office

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: (816) 285-7000 Media Contact: Jacqueline Michael-Midkiff    816-285-7001

FOR RELEASE: September 30, 2009

KANSAS CITY AREA EMPLOYMENT: AUGUST 2009

Rate of Job Loss Slower than that for the Nation

Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Ks., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) decreased by 24,700 over the year to 993,900 in August 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the Kansas City MSA's 2.4-percent decline in employment was less than the national decrease of 4.4 percent. The Kansas City area has registered 10 consecutive months of over-the-year employment declines.

The Kansas City metropolitan area is comprised of two separately identifiable employment centers-the Missouri portion of the MSA and the Kansas portion of the MSA. These portions recorded similar rates of job loss in August 2009, down 2.3 and 2.5 percent, respectively. The Missouri portion, which employed 56 percent of the area's workforce, shed 13,300 jobs. The Kansas portion, with 44 percent of the area's workforce, lost 11,400 jobs. (See chart A and table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions. Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, analysis is based on over-the-year comparisons.)

Chart A. Over-the-year net change in total nonfarm employment in the Kansas City metropolitan area and its components, August 2006-August 2009

In the Kansas City, Mo.-Ks. MSA, the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector experienced the largest over-the-year decrease in employment, shedding 7,800 jobs from August 2008 to August 2009. Employment losses in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector were heavily concentrated in the Missouri portion, down 5,200-twice the number of jobs lost in the Kansas portion (-2,600). Overall, the 3.8-percent rate of job loss in the metropolitan area was slower than the 4.6-percent decline for this industry nationally.

Professional and business services employment was down 5,500, or 3.6 percent, from August 2008. Nationwide, employment in this industry declined 6.4 percent. Mining, logging, and construction lost 5,400 jobs, the 32nd consecutive month of over-the-year job losses in this industry. Kansas City's manufacturing sector dropped 5,100 jobs, a 6.3-percent decrease; this compared to a decline of 12.0 percent nationwide. The Kansas portion experienced a larger decline in manufacturing jobs, shedding 3,500, more than double the number of jobs lost in the Missouri portion at 1,600.

In contrast to these losses, education and health services added 1,400 jobs over-the-year. The 1.1-percent local job growth in this industry compared to a 1.9-percent gain nationwide. No other industry sector added more than 1,000 jobs since August 2008. (See table 1.)

Additional information

For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Mountain-Plains BLS information office at (816) 285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200, Federal Relay Services: 1-800-877-8339.

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions   Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation.   The employment data are estimated using a "link relative" technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

Annual revisions.   Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates   The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey, administrative data, and modeling and, thus, are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability--that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates.    Measures of sampling error are available for state CES data at the total nonfarm and supersector level and for metropolitan area CES data. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions.   The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on November 20, 2008. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Kansas City, Mo.-Ks. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri; Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

The Kansas City, Mo. portion includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri.

The Kansas City, Ks. portion includes Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

 

Last Modified Date: September 30, 2009