Mountain-Plains Information Office

KANSAS CITY AREA EMPLOYMENT: MAY 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 17,500 over the year to 1,007,900 in May 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 1.7-percent decline in employment was less than the national decrease of 4.0 percent. The Kansas City area has registered seven 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. From May 2008 to May 2009, the rate of job losses in the Missouri portion was twice that of the Kansas portion, 2.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively. The Missouri portion, which employed 56 percent of the area's workforce, accounted for 73 percent of the area's job loss, dropping 12,700 jobs. The Kansas portion, with 44 percent of the area's workforce, accounted for 27 percent of the over-the-year decline, with the loss of 4,800 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, May 2006-May 2009

In the Kansas City, Mo.-Ks. MSA, trade, transportation, and utilities shed 7,200 jobs from May 2008 to May 2009. Still, the 3.5-percent rate of job loss was slower than the 4.6-percent decline for this industry nationally. Mining, logging, and construction lost 5,800 jobs, the 29th consecutive month of over-the-year job losses in this industry. Kansas City's manufacturing sector dropped 4,700 jobs, down 5.9 percent; this compared to a decline of 11.8 percent nationwide. Professional and business services' employment was 3,000 less than in May 2008 and employment in the information sector was down 1,300. As in the other sectors, employment in professional and business services and information declined more slowly locally than it did nationally.

Over-the-year employment growth in the Kansas City MSA was led by the addition of 3,700 jobs in government, a gain of 2.4 percent. The local rate of job growth in the public sector was four times the 0.6-percent national increase. Elsewhere, education and health services added 1,900 jobs over the year. The 1.5-percent local job growth in this industry compared to a 2.3-percent gain nationwide. (See table 1.)

Job losses were registered in several of the same industries in both the Missouri and Kansas portions of the metropolitan area-trade, transportation, and utilities; mining, logging, and construction; and professional and business services. There were differences, however, as manufacturing employment was down in the Missouri portion, but little changed in the Kansas portion. In addition, the Missouri portion added 2,900 jobs in government and 1,300 in education and health services, partially offsetting the losses. No industry in the Kansas portion added more than 1,000 jobs.

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.