Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,089,600 in May 2017, up 20,700 or 1.9 percent from May 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 1.5 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that with few exceptions, annual job gains in the Kansas City metropolitan area have exceeded 20,000 each month since May 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 57 percent of the area’s workforce, was responsible for the growth in employment, adding 22,300 jobs (+3.7 percent) from May 2016 to May 2017.

Professional and business services had the largest employment increase in the metropolitan area, adding 12,700 jobs since May 2016, with job growth concentrated on the Missouri side of the MSA (+11,700). This supersector’s 6.9-percent rate of local job growth compared to the national gain of 3.1 percent.

Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities rose by 3,900 from May 2016 to May 2017. Both portions of the MSA contributed to the expansion, as the Missouri portion added 2,300 jobs and the Kansas portion gained 1,600 jobs. The 1.9-percent rate of local job growth was nearly four times the national rate of 0.5 percent.

Three other supersectors added more than 1,000 jobs each since May 2016. The education and health services supersector added 2,600 jobs in the local area, with the Missouri portion adding 2,400 of the jobs. Locally, employment in this supersector increased 1.7 percent compared to the national rate of 2.3 percent. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 2,500 over the year in the local area with all of the gains in the Missouri portion of the MSA (+5,600). The 2.3-percent rate of local job growth in this supersector was similar to the national rate of 2.1 percent. Government employment increased by 1,200, a 0.8-percent rise compared to the nationwide increase of 0.4 percent.

Two supersectors registered employment declines from May 2016 to May 2017. Mining, logging, and construction employment declined by 2,700, a 5.6-percent loss, as both portions of the MSA had job losses. The information supersector shed 1,100 jobs, a 5.6-percent decline locally compared to a nationwide decrease of 0.7 percent.

Metropolitan area employment data for June 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, July 21, 2017.

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 are available for metropolitan areas or metropolitan divisions upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/sae/benchmark2017.pdf.

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 July 15, 2015. 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/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm.

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.