Topeka ? Kansas remains in an economic slump, with few signs of a recovery significant enough to cheer struggling families, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius and the state’s top labor official said Friday.

Sebelius said this summer’s drought represented a “slap in the face” to Kansans who had hoped to see some improvement in agriculture. Furthermore, she said, the state’s economy tends to lag from six months to a year behind the national one.

“I think right now, we’re still struggling in Kansas,” she said during a Statehouse news conference.

Jim Garner, secretary of human resources, described the Kansas economy as “challenged.” He would not predict when Kansans would start to see significantly better times, saying that will come only with new jobs.

Garner also expressed frustration with suggestions that the national economy is recovering from economic problems that started before but accelerated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Those problems included a slump in the aviation industry, which has hit the Wichita area hard.

“The moniker put on it is a ‘jobless recovery,'” Garner said during a separate news conference. “It doesn’t do much if you’re out looking for work, struggling to find a job.”

One positive sign in the Kansas economy is unemployment, which has been lower this year than in 2002, with the average rate at 4.9 percent for the first seven months of 2003, compared to 5.2 percent for the same period last year.

“We are in better shape, certainly, than we were a year ago at this time, in terms of, every month, spiraling downward,” Sebelius said.

But she added the Kansas economy is “pretty flat right now.”

“I’m not seeing a lot of people being brought back to work,” she said.

Garner used much of the secretary’s annual Labor Day message to highlight weaknesses in the Kansas economy.

He noted that in 2002, the average number of jobs covered each month by the state’s unemployment insurance program — 95 percent of those held by Kansans — dropped by 1.1 percent, the first decline the state had seen in 20 years. The average for 2002 was 1,277,300, or about 14,000 fewer than in 2001.

And average monthly manufacturing employment dropped nearly 7 percent, to about 181,200 in 2002 from 194,500 the year before — a loss of 13,300 jobs.

Also, Kansans stayed on unemployment longer in 2002, receiving benefits for an average of 15.8 weeks, compared to 13.4 weeks in 2001.

“We must strive for better than a jobless recovery,” Garner said. “It reflects that we are still in a very challenging situation.”

He added: “There’s still a need for job growth.”

Sebelius plans to convene a “prosperity summit” on Oct. 1 in Wichita, to have business and community leaders discuss ways in which Kansas can revive its economy. Her office already has sponsored a series of regional meetings.