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FOR RELEASE: April 24, 2009

METROPOLITAN AREA EMLOYMENT: FEBRUARY 2009

Kansas City Area Job Count Continued Downward Trend

Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Ks., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) decreased by 10,100 over the year to 994,200 in February 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor. Regional Commissioner Stanley W. Suchman noted that the Kansas City MSA's 1.0-percent decline in employment was less than the national decrease of 3.1 percent.

The Kansas City metropolitan area is comprised of two separately identifiable employment centers-the Missouri portion of the MSA and the Kansas portion of the MSA. These portions recorded similar rates of job loss in February 2009, down 1.1 and 0.9 percent, respectively. However, due to the larger workforce in Missouri, which accounted for 56 percent of local employment versus 44 percent in Kansas, the number of jobs lost was much larger, 6,300 compared to 3,800. (See chart A and table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains metropolitan area definitions. Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, analysis is based on over-the-year comparisons.)

Chart A. Over-the-year net change in total nonfarm employment in the Kansas City metropolitan area and its components, March 2006-February 2009

In the Kansas City MSA, manufacturing dropped 5,900 jobs from February 2008 to February 2009, its largest over-the-year decline since September 2002. Still, the 7.2-percent rate of job loss was slower than the 9.0-percent decline for this industry nationally. Locally, trade, transportation, and utilities shed 5,000 jobs, down 2.4 percent; this compared to a decline of 4.0 percent nationwide. Elsewhere in Kansas City, mining, logging, and construction lost 3,300 jobs from February 2008, professional and business services was down 3,000, and information, 1,500.

Over-the-year employment growth in the Kansas City MSA was led by the addition of 4,200 jobs in government, a gain of 2.7 percent. The local rate of job growth in the public sector was more than four times the percentage increase nationally at 0.6 percent. Education and health services in the Kansas City area added 3,700 jobs over the year. The 3.0-percent job growth in this industry locally compared to a 2.5-percent gain nationwide. (See table 1.)

Both the Missouri and Kansas portions of the metropolitan area had industries that lost jobs over the year, but the distribution of losses by industry was very different. In the Missouri portion, employment declines were largely spread across four industries-trade, transportation, and utilities (-3,400), manufacturing (-2,300), professional and business services (-2,200), and mining, logging, and construction (-2,100). In comparison, employment losses in the Kansas portion were heavily concentrated in manufacturing, down 3,600. Partially offsetting the declines in both portions were employment gains in government and education and health services.

Additional information

For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Mountain-Plains BLS information office at (816) 285-7000 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200, Federal Relay Services: 1-800-877-8339.

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 in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Employment 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 2007 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 state CES data at the total nonfarm and supersector level and for metropolitan area CES data. 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 November 20, 2008. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Kansas City, Mo.-Ks. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri; Franklin, 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, Ks. portion includes Franklin, Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

 

Last Modified Date: April 24, 2009