Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,046,100 in November 2015, up 12,300 or 1.2 percent from November 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 1.9 percent. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that over-the-year net job growth in the Kansas City metropolitan area has exceeded 10,000 each month since September 2013. (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, added 9,500 jobs (1.7 percent) from November 2014 to November 2015. The Kansas portion, with 44 percent of the area’s workforce, gained 2,800 jobs (0.6 percent) over the year.

Two industry supersectors in the Kansas City metropolitan area added 3,400 jobs each from November 2014 to November 2015–mining, logging, and construction, and education and health services. Both increases were led by the job gains on the Missouri side of the MSA. Mining, logging, and construction added 2,700 jobs in the Missouri portion and education and health services gained 2,800. Overall, mining, logging, and construction employment grew 7.8 percent in the MSA over the year, while education and health services employment increased 2.4 percent.

Three additional supersectors added at least 2,500 jobs each since November 2014. Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities grew by 2,800 over the year in the MSA, with all of the gain on the Missouri side, up 3,000 jobs. Similarly, the number of jobs in the professional and business services industry rose due entirely to a gain on the Missouri side; the MSA added 2,500 jobs with the Missouri portion of the area gaining 3,600 jobs. The financial activities supersector also added 2,500 jobs in the metropolitan area, though both the Missouri and Kansas sides contributed to the increase. Of these supersectors, only financial activities added jobs at a faster rate in the MSA (3.3 percent) than it did nationally (1.8 percent).

The manufacturing and leisure and hospitality supersectors each registered job losses that were close to 1,000 in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Leisure and hospitality employment grew by 2,600 on the Kansas side of the MSA, partially offsetting a 3,500 job loss in the Missouri portion.

Metropolitan area employment data for December 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, February 3, 2016.

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.

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	Nov 2014	Sep 2015	Oct 2015	Nov 2015 (p)	Nov 2014 to Nov 2015 (p)
					Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm	141,478	142,604	143,784	144,128	2,650	1.9
Mining and logging	916	816	808	792	-124	-13.5
Construction	6,339	6,627	6,662	6,606	267	4.2
Manufacturing	12,290	12,370	12,347	12,332	42	0.3
Trade transportation and utilities	27,106	26,883	27,119	27,554	448	1.7
Information	2,778	2,796	2,806	2,809	31	1.1
Financial activities	8,041	8,163	8,176	8,183	142	1.8
Professional and business services	19,507	19,919	20,131	20,127	620	3.2
Education and health services	21,912	22,102	22,468	22,553	641	2.9
Leisure and hospitality	14,616	15,422	15,264	15,061	445	3.0
Other services	5,592	5,631	5,655	5,646	54	1.0
Government	22,381	21,875	22,348	22,465	84	0.4
Kansas City Mo.-Kan. MSA
Total nonfarm	1,033.8	1,042.4	1,047.3	1,046.1	12.3	1.2
Mining logging and construction	43.6	46.9	47.6	47.0	3.4	7.8
Manufacturing	73.1	71.9	71.7	72.3	-0.8	-1.1
Trade transportation and utilities	208.8	207.6	209.6	211.6	2.8	1.3
Information	29.6	29.5	29.3	29.2	-0.4	-1.4
Financial activities	74.7	77.4	77.3	77.2	2.5	3.3
Professional and business services	171.9	172.7	172.8	174.4	2.5	1.5
Education and health services	140.8	143.2	146.0	144.2	3.4	2.4
Leisure and hospitality	101.0	103.0	103.1	100.1	-0.9	-0.9
Other services	42.0	41.9	41.7	41.7	-0.3	-0.7
Government	148.3	148.3	148.2	148.4	0.1	0.1
Kansas City Mo. portion
Total nonfarm	571.6	578.9	582.4	581.1	9.5	1.7
Mining logging and construction	24.8	26.5	27.1	27.5	2.7	10.9
Manufacturing	41.6	41.5	41.2	41.4	-0.2	-0.5
Trade transportation and utilities	109.9	109.9	111.1	112.9	3.0	2.7
Information	14.5	14.3	14.1	14.1	-0.4	-2.8
Financial activities	40.0	41.8	41.8	41.5	1.5	3.8
Professional and business services	83.0	85.3	85.5	86.6	3.6	4.3
Education and health services	78.4	80.7	83.0	81.2	2.8	3.6
Leisure and hospitality	63.2	61.9	62.4	59.7	-3.5	-5.5
Other services	26.1	26.1	25.9	25.8	-0.3	-1.1
Government	90.1	90.9	90.3	90.4	0.3	0.3
Kansas City Kan. portion
Total nonfarm	462.2	463.5	464.9	465.0	2.8	0.6
Mining logging and construction	18.8	20.4	20.5	19.5	0.7	3.7
Manufacturing	31.5	30.4	30.5	30.9	-0.6	-1.9
Trade transportation and utilities	98.9	97.7	98.5	98.7	-0.2	-0.2
Information	15.1	15.2	15.2	15.1	0.0	0.0
Financial activities	34.7	35.6	35.5	35.7	1.0	2.9
Professional and business services	88.9	87.4	87.3	87.8	-1.1	-1.2
Education and health services	62.4	62.5	63.0	63.0	0.6	1.0
Leisure and hospitality	37.8	41.1	40.7	40.4	2.6	6.9
Other services	15.9	15.8	15.8	15.9	0.0	0.0
Government	58.2	57.4	57.9	58.0	-0.2	-0.3
Footnotes: (p) Preliminary