Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, MO-KS, metropolitan area increased by 26,900 over the year in November, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Regional Commissioner Michael Hirniak noted that the local rate of job gain, 2.5 percent, compared to the 3.2-percent national increase. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Kansas City, MO-KS, is made up of two separately identifiable employment centers within the larger metropolitan area—the Missouri portion and the Kansas portion. Employment in Kansas City, MO, which accounted for 56 percent of the metropolitan area’s total nonfarm employment, stood at 617,300 in November. Employment in Kansas City, KS, with 44 percent of the metropolitan area’s employment, stood at 487,500 in November.

Industry employment

In Kansas City, MO-KS, education and health services had the largest gain (+7,600) among the metropolitan area’s private-industry supersectors. Employment in the Missouri portion increased by 5,300 jobs. (See chart 2.) Within the supersector, the health care and social assistance sector added 4,000 jobs in the metropolitan area. The 4.9-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 3.9-percent gain on a national level.

Mining, logging, and construction gained 6,200 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. The Missouri portion’s employment level in this supersector stood at 36,800, and the Kansas portion’s employment level stood at 25,000. The metropolitan area had an 11.2-percent rate of job gain over the year.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for December 2022 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. (CT).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the CES program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the U.S. 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 2017 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria. For some employment series, the estimates are produced with a model that uses direct sample estimates (described above) combined with other regressors to decrease volatility in estimation.

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. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.htm

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample surveys, 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 also are 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 specific estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal totals shown in the same tables due to rounding.

Employment estimates. Changes in metropolitan area nonfarm payroll employment are cited in the analysis of this release only if they have been determined to be statistically significant at the 90-percent confidence level. Measures of sampling error for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this news release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on April 10, 2018. The 12 metropolitan areas discussed in this release are the metropolitan areas with the largest population according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Kansas City, MO-KS Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri and 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.

• The Kansas City, KS, portion includes Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties. 

Additional information

Employment data from the CES program are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to individuals with sensory impairments upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Telecommunications Relay Service: 7-1-1.

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 2021	Sep 2022	Oct 2022	Nov 2022(p)	Nov 2021 to Nov 2022(p)
					Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm	150,210	153,204	154,416	154,990	4,780	3.2
Mining and logging	587	637	642	641	54	9.2
Construction	7,582	7,877	7,896	7,827	245	3.2
Manufacturing	12,530	12,890	12,925	12,941	411	3.3
Trade, transportation, and utilities	28,705	28,589	28,834	29,249	544	1.9
Information	2,914	3,041	3,052	3,077	163	5.6
Financial activities	8,865	8,969	9,009	9,018	153	1.7
Professional and business services	21,983	22,468	22,707	22,689	706	3.2
Education and health services	24,155	24,618	24,953	25,088	933	3.9
Leisure and hospitality	14,755	15,971	15,918	15,812	1,057	7.2
Other services	5,583	5,721	5,752	5,771	188	3.4
Government	22,551	22,423	22,728	22,877	326	1.4
Kansas City, MO-KS, MSA
Total nonfarm	1,077.9	1,093.2	1,102.5	1,104.8	26.9	2.5
Mining, logging, and construction	55.6	61.2	61.4	61.8	6.2	11.2
Manufacturing	77.9	81.3	80.7	81.4	3.5	4.5
Trade, transportation, and utilities	221.4	216.6	220.1	221.5	0.1	0.0
Information	16.4	16.3	16.3	16.3	-0.1	-0.6
Financial activities	78.4	75.7	76.7	76.4	-2.0	-2.6
Professional and business services	184.4	186.6	187.5	190.3	5.9	3.2
Education and health services	154.6	160.3	163.5	162.2	7.6	4.9
Leisure and hospitality	100.9	108.1	108.1	106.4	5.5	5.5
Other services	41.1	41.8	42.3	42.5	1.4	3.4
Government	147.2	145.3	145.9	146.0	-1.2	-0.8
Kansas City, MO, portion
Total nonfarm	600.0	611.7	614.5	617.3	17.3	2.9
Mining, logging, and construction	32.6	36.1	36.7	36.8	4.2	12.9
Manufacturing	43.6	45.5	44.9	45.3	1.7	3.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities	113.2	110.9	112.4	113.6	0.4	0.4
Information	9.3	9.0	9.1	9.1	-0.2	-2.2
Financial activities	41.9	41.7	42.1	42.4	0.5	1.2
Professional and business services	99.3	100.8	100.2	101.1	1.8	1.8
Education and health services	85.2	88.4	90.0	90.5	5.3	6.2
Leisure and hospitality	61.5	67.6	66.5	65.7	4.2	6.8
Other services	24.0	24.6	25.0	25.1	1.1	4.6
Government	89.4	87.1	87.6	87.7	-1.7	-1.9
Kansas City, KS, portion
Total nonfarm	477.9	481.5	488.0	487.5	9.6	2.0
Mining, logging, and construction	23.0	25.1	24.7	25.0	2.0	8.7
Manufacturing	34.3	35.8	35.8	36.1	1.8	5.2
Trade, transportation, and utilities	108.2	105.7	107.7	107.9	-0.3	-0.3
Information	7.1	7.3	7.2	7.2	0.1	1.4
Financial activities	36.5	34.0	34.6	34.0	-2.5	-6.8
Professional and business services	85.1	85.8	87.3	89.2	4.1	4.8
Education and health services	69.4	71.9	73.5	71.7	2.3	3.3
Leisure and hospitality	39.4	40.5	41.6	40.7	1.3	3.3
Other services	17.1	17.2	17.3	17.4	0.3	1.8
Government	57.8	58.2	58.3	58.3	0.5	0.9
(p) Preliminary