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News Release Information

23-598-KAN
Wednesday, April 05, 2023

Contacts Technical information: Media contact:
  • (816) 285-7000

Kansas City Area Employment — February 2023

Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, MO-KS, metropolitan area increased by 28,700 over the year in February, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. (See chart 1 and table 1.) Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Michael Hirniak noted that the local rate of job gain, 2.6 percent, compared to the 2.9-percent national increase. (All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

  Chart1. Over-the-year net change for total nonfarm employment in the Kansas City metropolitan area, February 2020-February 2023
 

Kansas City, MO-KS, is made up of two separately identifiable employment centers within the greater metropolitan area—the Missouri portion and the Kansas portion. Employment rose over the year in both portions of the metropolitan area. Employment increased over the year in both portions of the metropolitan area.  Kansas City, MO, which accounted for 56 percent of the metropolitan area’s total nonfarm employment, gained 17,700 jobs, while Kansas City, KS, gained 11,000 jobs.

Industry employment

In Kansas City, MO-KS, leisure and hospitality had the largest gain (+7,200) among the metropolitan area’s private-industry supersectors. (See chart 2.) The Missouri portion’s employment level in this supersector stood at 66,800 jobs, and the Kansas portion’s employment level stood at 42,700. The 7.0-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s leisure and hospitality supersector compared to the 6.6-percent gain on a national level.

  Chart 2. Over-the-year net change for industry supersector employment in the Kansas City metropolitan area, February 2023
 

Education and health services gained 5,300 jobs over the year in the metropolitan area. Within this supersector, the health care and social assistance sector added 4,400 jobs in the metropolitan area. The 3.3-percent increase in the metropolitan area’s education and health services supersector compared to the 4.3-percent gain on a national level.

The Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment release for March 2023 is scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 3, 2023, at 9:00 a.m. (CT).

Changes to Current Employment Statistics (CES) Data

Effective with the release of January 2023 data, all nonfarm payroll employment estimates in this release have been adjusted to 2022 benchmark levels. Not seasonally adjusted data beginning with April 2021 and seasonally adjusted data beginning with January 2018 were subject to revision. Some not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted series have been revised as far back as 1990.

In addition, the basis for industry classification in the establishment survey has been revised from the 2017 North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) to NAICS 2022. Implementation of NAICS 2022 resulted in revisions reflecting content and coding changes within the retail trade, information, and financial services sectors. The majority of the changes associated with the NAICS 2022 implementation impact levels of detail not published by CES State and Area. For more information about updated industry titles and new, discontinued, and collapsed industries resulting from the NAICS 2022 implementation, see the CES State and Area benchmark article.


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 2022 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 compensate for smaller sample sizes.

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 in the CES State and Area benchmark article.

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. Reliability of state and area estimates for the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions.

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

Feb
2022
Dec
2022
Jan
2023
Feb
2023(p)
Feb 2022 to
Feb 2023(p)
Net change Percent change

United States

Total nonfarm

149,606 155,344 152,836 153,955 4,349 2.9

Mining and logging

574 626 622 622 48 8.4

Construction

7,349 7,763 7,549 7,613 264 3.6

Manufacturing

12,600 12,988 12,891 12,921 321 2.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

28,294 29,506 28,749 28,635 341 1.2

Information

2,974 3,139 3,050 3,044 70 2.4

Financial activities

8,931 9,132 9,049 9,047 116 1.3

Professional and business services

22,086 22,907 22,474 22,630 544 2.5

Education and health services

24,078 24,960 24,749 25,111 1,033 4.3

Leisure and hospitality

14,864 15,947 15,638 15,844 980 6.6

Other services

5,588 5,778 5,741 5,767 179 3.2

Government

22,268 22,598 22,324 22,721 453 2.0

Kansas City, MO-KS, MSA

Total nonfarm

1,091.8 1,135.4 1,123.2 1,120.5 28.7 2.6

Mining, logging, and construction

53.6 57.7 56.8 56.3 2.7 5.0

Manufacturing

82.3 86.5 86.2 85.4 3.1 3.8

Trade, transportation, and utilities

224.8 234.6 227.6 227.1 2.3 1.0

Information

16.6 16.9 16.9 16.8 0.2 1.2

Financial activities

77.8 79.9 78.7 79.0 1.2 1.5

Professional and business services

187.7 193.9 192.0 190.9 3.2 1.7

Education and health services

158.7 164.8 165.6 164.0 5.3 3.3

Leisure and hospitality

102.3 109.8 109.0 109.5 7.2 7.0

Other services

42.6 45.0 45.0 44.8 2.2 5.2

Government

145.4 146.3 145.4 146.7 1.3 0.9

Kansas City, MO, portion

Total nonfarm

609.5 633.9 628.3 627.2 17.7 2.9

Mining, logging, and construction

31.6 34.3 33.3 33.1 1.5 4.7

Manufacturing

47.9 51.4 51.8 51.0 3.1 6.5

Trade, transportation, and utilities

116.4 121.3 118.6 118.2 1.8 1.5

Information

8.9 9.4 9.4 9.3 0.4 4.5

Financial activities

43.1 45.7 44.8 45.1 2.0 4.6

Professional and business services

97.5 99.3 98.3 98.2 0.7 0.7

Education and health services

87.8 90.9 91.4 90.5 2.7 3.1

Leisure and hospitality

62.8 66.5 65.9 66.8 4.0 6.4

Other services

25.4 27.0 27.0 26.9 1.5 5.9

Government

88.1 88.1 87.8 88.1 0.0 0.0

Kansas City, KS, portion

Total nonfarm

482.3 501.5 494.9 493.3 11.0 2.3

Mining, logging, and construction

22.0 23.4 23.5 23.2 1.2 5.5

Manufacturing

34.4 35.1 34.4 34.4 0.0 0.0

Trade, transportation, and utilities

108.4 113.3 109.0 108.9 0.5 0.5

Information

7.7 7.5 7.5 7.5 -0.2 -2.6

Financial activities

34.7 34.2 33.9 33.9 -0.8 -2.3

Professional and business services

90.2 94.6 93.7 92.7 2.5 2.8

Education and health services

70.9 73.9 74.2 73.5 2.6 3.7

Leisure and hospitality

39.5 43.3 43.1 42.7 3.2 8.1

Other services

17.2 18.0 18.0 17.9 0.7 4.1

Government

57.3 58.2 57.6 58.6 1.3 2.3

(p) Preliminary

 

Last Modified Date: Wednesday, April 05, 2023