Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,043,300 in May 2015, up 16,900 or 1.6 percent from May 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 2.2 percent. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the rate of over-the-year job growth in the Kansas City metropolitan area has exceeded 1.5 percent each month since March 2014. (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.)

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 56 percent of the area’s workforce, accounted for nearly two-thirds of the MSA’s employment growth with the addition of 10,800 jobs (1.9 percent) from May 2014 to May 2015. The Kansas portion, with 44 percent of the area’s workforce, gained 6,100 jobs (1.3 percent) over the year. 

Two supersectors in the Kansas City metropolitan area added more than 3,000 jobs from May 2014 to May 2015. Professional and business services experienced the largest increase in employment, up 5,700, led by the addition of 4,900 jobs in the Missouri portion of the MSA. This supersector’s rate of local job growth, at 3.4 percent, compared to the national gain of 3.6 percent. The trade, transportation, and utilities supersector added 3,200 jobs over the year. This supersector’s employment growth was also concentrated on the Missouri side of the metropolitan area which added 2,500 jobs. Locally, the rate of job growth in the trade, transportation, and utilities supersector was 1.6 percent, while nationally this supersector grew 2.1 percent over the year.

Employment in the financial activities and government supersectors rose by 2,900 and 2,200, respectively, over the year. Employment growth in financial activities occurred in both portions of the MSA, as the Missouri portion added 1,600 jobs and the Kansas portion gained 1,300 jobs. Locally, financial activities registered a 4.0-percent gain in employment, outpacing the national rate of 2.0 percent. The expansion in government employment was led by the Missouri portion of the metropolitan area with a gain of 1,300 jobs. The 1.5-percent rate of local job growth exceeded the 0.5-percent national rate for this supersector.

Three other supersectors registered employment gains of 1,000 or more jobs from May 2014. Manufacturing added 1,900 jobs from May a year ago, led by growth on the Missouri side of the MSA (1,300). The 2.7-percent rate of local job growth was above the national rate of 1.4 percent. Employment in mining, logging, and construction expanded by 1,400, with job growth concentrated in the Missouri portion of the metropolitan area (1,200). Education and health services gained 1,000 jobs over the year. Locally, education and health services employment increased at a 0.7-percent pace, compared to the national rate of  2.9 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 February 28, 2013. 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; 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 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.