Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,014,200 in August 2014, up 5,100 or 0.5 percent from August 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 1.8 percent. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that this was the 47^th consecutive month of over-the-year job gains in the Kansas City metropolitan area.

The Kansas City metropolitan area is comprised of two separately identifiable employment centers—the Missouri portion and the Kansas portion of the MSA. The Missouri portion, which had 55 percent of the area’s workforce, accounted for over two-thirds of the MSA’s employment growth with the addition of 3,500 jobs (0.6 percent) from August 2013 to August 2014. The Kansas portion, with 45 percent of the area’s workforce, gained 1,600 jobs (0.4 percent) over the year. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, analysis is based on over-the-year comparisons.)

Three supersectors in the Kansas City metropolitan area added 1,000 or more jobs from August 2013 to August 2014. Professional and business services gained 5,200 jobs with all of the expansion occurring on the Kansas side of the MSA (5,300). This supersector’s rate of local job growth, at 3.2 percent, compared to the national rate of 3.5 percent. Education and health services employment rose by 3,500 with the Missouri portion adding 2,400 jobs and the Kansas portion gaining 1,100 jobs. Locally, the rate of job growth in the education and health services supersector was 2.5 percent, outpacing the respective national gain of 1.8 percent. Manufacturing added 1,000 jobs from August 2013. The 1.4-percent rate of local job growth matched the national rate for this supersector.

In contrast, two supersectors in the Kansas City area experienced employment losses of more than 1,000 jobs over the year. Trade, transportation, and utilities shed 2,200 jobs, led by losses in the Missouri portion of the metropolitan area (-2,000). Locally, trade, transportation, and utilities employment was down 1.1 percent while nationally it was up 2.0 percent. Government employment declined by 1,300 from August 2013 to August 2014 with all of the losses occurring in the Kansas portion of the MSA (-1,600). As government employment decreased 0.9 percent locally, it rose 0.2 percent nationwide over the year.

Leisure and hospitality registered employment changes of more than 1,000 in each portion of the metropolitan area. However, a gain of 4,100 jobs in the Missouri portion was more than offset by a loss of 4,700 jobs in the Kansas portion. Similarly, 1,600 jobs added in the mining, logging, and construction supersector in the Kansas portion of the MSA were nearly offset by 1,500 mining, logging, and construction jobs lost in the Missouri portion. Employment in financial activities increased by 1,000 in the Missouri portion of the metropolitan area, while the Kansas portion shed 1,200 jobs in this supersector.

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 between State employment security agencies and 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 for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. 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 December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

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

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: 202-691-5200; Federal Relay Service: 800-877-8339.