Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,027,800 in November 2014, up 10,300 or 1.0 percent from November 2013, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 2.0 percent. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the Kansas City metropolitan area has registered over-the-year job gains each month since October 2010.

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 three-fourths of the MSA’s employment growth with the addition of 8,400 jobs (1.5 percent) from November 2013 to November 2014. The Kansas portion, with 45 percent of the area’s workforce, gained 1,900 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 more than 1,000 jobs from November 2013 to November 2014. Employment in professional and business services expanded by 6,100, as the Kansas portion of the MSA added 3,800 jobs and the Missouri portion gained 2,300 jobs. This supersector’s rate of local job growth, at 3.7 percent, compared to the national rate of 3.6 percent. Education and health services employment rose by 2,900, led by the addition of 2,400 jobs on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area. Locally, the rate of job growth in the education and health services supersector was 2.1 percent, similar to the national gain of 2.0 percent. Employment in leisure and hospitality expanded by 1,900 from November 2013, with the Missouri portion of the MSA gaining 4,800 jobs while the Kansas portion lost 2,900 jobs. The metropolitan area’s 2.0-percent rate of job growth was slower than the 2.6-percent national rate for this supersector.

In contrast, one supersector in the Kansas City area experienced employment losses of more than 1,000 jobs over the year. Trade, transportation, and utilities shed 1,200 jobs, with losses equally distributed between the two portions of the metropolitan area. Locally, trade, transportation, and utilities employment was down 0.6 percent while nationally it was up 2.0 percent.

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 2012 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.

 

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, the United States and the Kansas City metropolitan area and its components, not seasonally adjusted (numbers in thousands)

Area and Industry	November	September	October	November	Change from Nov. 2013
	2013	2014	2014	2014 (p)	to Nov. 2014
					Number	Percent
United States
Total nonfarm	138,536	139,753	140,804	141,301	2,765	2.0
Mining and logging	881	939	935	929	48	5.4
Construction	5,996	6,320	6,319	6,227	231	3.9
Manufacturing	12,051	12,230	12,229	12,237	186	1.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	26,600	26,416	26,639	27,126	526	2.0
Information	2,699	2,683	2,688	2,708	9	0.3
Financial activities	7,897	7,992	7,999	8,013	116	1.5
Professional and business services	18,975	19,453	19,602	19,663	688	3.6
Education and health services	21,488	21,511	21,825	21,914	426	2.0
Leisure and hospitality	14,148	14,885	14,727	14,522	374	2.6
Other services	5,461	5,508	5,525	5,529	68	1.2
Government	22,340	21,816	22,316	22,433	93	0.4
Kansas City Mo.-Kan. MSA
Total nonfarm	1,017.5	1,019.7	1,023.8	1,027.8	10.3	1.0
Mining, logging, and construction	42.6	43.7	43.8	43.3	0.7	1.6
Manufacturing	73.1	73.6	73.4	73.6	0.5	0.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities	204.6	198.6	200.5	203.4	-1.2	-0.6
Information	30.0	29.7	29.5	29.8	-0.2	-0.7
Financial activities	74.8	73.6	73.7	75.1	0.3	0.4
Professional and business services	164.1	167.7	169.6	170.2	6.1	3.7
Education and health services	138.9	141.1	141.7	141.8	2.9	2.1
Leisure and hospitality	96.3	100.1	98.6	98.2	1.9	2.0
Other services	42.8	42.7	42.7	42.6	-0.2	-0.5
Government	150.3	148.9	150.3	149.8	-0.5	-0.3
Kansas City Mo. portion
Total nonfarm	562.0	566.5	567.6	570.4	8.4	1.5
Mining, logging, and construction	24.0	23.8	23.6	23.6	-0.4	-1.7
Manufacturing	39.8	40.4	40.3	40.4	0.6	1.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	107.1	104.4	105.7	106.5	-0.6	-0.6
Information	14.8	14.2	14.0	14.2	-0.6	-4.1
Financial activities	40.6	40.6	40.4	41.4	0.8	2.0
Professional and business services	80.6	81.4	82.5	82.9	2.3	2.9
Education and health services	77.0	78.8	79.2	79.4	2.4	3.1
Leisure and hospitality	60.9	66.1	64.9	65.7	4.8	7.9
Other services	26.5	26.3	26.2	26.1	-0.4	-1.5
Government	90.7	90.5	90.8	90.2	-0.5	-0.6
Kansas City Kan. portion
Total nonfarm	455.5	453.2	456.2	457.4	1.9	0.4
Mining, logging, and construction	18.6	19.9	20.2	19.7	1.1	5.9
Manufacturing	33.3	33.2	33.1	33.2	-0.1	-0.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	97.5	94.2	94.8	96.9	-0.6	-0.6
Information	15.2	15.5	15.5	15.6	0.4	2.6
Financial activities	34.2	33.0	33.3	33.7	-0.5	-1.5
Professional and business services	83.5	86.3	87.1	87.3	3.8	4.6
Education and health services	61.9	62.3	62.5	62.4	0.5	0.8
Leisure and hospitality	35.4	34.0	33.7	32.5	-2.9	-8.2
Other services	16.3	16.4	16.5	16.5	0.2	1.2
Government	59.6	58.4	59.5	59.6	0.0	0.0
(p) Data are preliminary.