Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,072,800 in February 2017, up 27,800 or 2.7 percent from February 2016, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 1.7 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 largely responsible for the growth in employment, adding 23,300 jobs (+4.0 percent) from February 2016 to February 2017.

Professional and business services had the largest employment increase in the metropolitan area, adding  8,200 jobs since February 2016, with job growth concentrated on the Missouri side of the MSA (+7,300). This supersector’s rate of local job growth, at 4.5 percent, compared to the national gain of 3.0 percent.

Employment in trade, transportation, and utilities rose by 5,500 from February 2016 to February 2017. Both portions of the MSA contributed to the expansion, as the Missouri portion added 3,100 jobs and the Kansas portion gained 2,400 jobs. The 2.7-percent rate of local job growth was more than twice the national rate of 1.0 percent.

Two other supersectors added more than 4,000 jobs each since February 2016. The education and health services supersector added 4,900 jobs in the local area over the year. The Missouri side of the MSA gained 3,400 jobs and the Kansas portion added 1,500 jobs. Locally, employment in this supersector increased 3.3 percent compared to the national rate of 2.5 percent. Employment in leisure and hospitality rose by 4,100 over the year, with all of the increase in the Missouri portion of the MSA (+5,800). The 4.1-percent rate of local job growth in this supersector outpaced the national rate of 1.9 percent.

Four additional supersectors in the Kansas City metropolitan area had employment gains of at least 1,000 jobs from February 2016 to February 2017. Mining, logging, and construction employment expanded by 2,000, a 4.6-percent gain over the year. The financial activities supersector added 1,300 jobs since February 2016. Employment in this supersector rose 1.7 percent in the metropolitan area compared to a 2.3-percent gain nationally. Government employment increased by 1,200, a 0.8-percent rise that was similar to the nationwide increase of 0.9 percent. The manufacturing supersector added 1,000 jobs from February 2016 to February 2017. Manufacturing employment increased 1.3 percent in the local metropolitan area compared to a 0.1-percent rise nationwide. Job gains in three of the four supersectors were concentrated in the Missouri portion of the MSA.

The information supersector registered the only employment decline from February 2016 to February 2017, shedding 1,100 jobs as both portions of the MSA experienced job losses. Locally, employment in this supersector declined 5.5 percent compared to the nationwide decrease of 0.3 percent.   

Metropolitan area employment data for March 2017 are scheduled to be released on Friday, April 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/790stderr.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/.

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.