Topeka — The state's unemployment rate jumped to 4.1 percent in January, something officials blamed largely on seasonal layoffs by retail stores and construction firms.
The rate in December was 3.2 percent. The Department of Human Resources reported Wednesday that 19,000 fewer Kansans had jobs in January than in December.
The department expected an increase in the jobless rate in January and doesn't see a significant jump as unusual. Bill Layes, its chief of labor market information, noted that unemployment increased from 3 percent in December 1999 to 3.7 percent in January 2000.
"It's a little larger than normal, but it always goes up in January," Layes said of the latest figures.
In the Lawrence area, defined as Douglas County, the unemployment rate for January was 4.1 percent. That was up from 3.1 percent in December and 3.7 percent in January 2000.
The figures do not reflect Lawrence-based Oread Inc.'s pending closure, which put 75 people out of work Feb. 12 and left another 75 on contracts to end by the end of March.
Retail stores and wholesale trade companies, which have more than 300,000 workers, decreased employment by about 10,300 workers in January. Government agencies also cut employment by about 5,800 workers during the month, dropping it to 245,000, the department said.
The construction industry also lost about 1,200 jobs, to drop its employment to about 60,700. Layes said construction layoffs were more numerous this year because of winter weather, though he described that weather as normal.
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