Topeka ? Officials still see plenty of good news about Kansas’ economy, but unemployment was slightly higher last month than in May 2006, the first time in at least 14 months the state has seen an over-the-year increase in the jobless rate.

The Department of Labor doesn’t know whether the small uptick, to 4.3 percent in May compared with 4.1 percent in May 2006, can be attributed to storms or to the timing of students entering the summer job market and when they found work. But the agency doesn’t see a long-term trend emerging.

Other signs are positive. The department said Tuesday that the state had 31,000 more nonfarm jobs this May than in May 2006, the largest number in professional and business services. Also, the state collected nearly 6 percent more in general revenues in May than anticipated, according to the Legislative Research Department.

“What I’m hearing from business leaders and workers alike when I travel the state is that they think we’re headed in the right direction,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said in a written statement Tuesday. “It’s especially good news that jobs are being added in manufacturing, since these are traditionally good-paying jobs.”

Manufacturing firms added about 3,900 jobs when compared with the same month last year, while professional and business services companies added about 6,000. Education and health services firms added about 5,400, and trade, transportation and utility companies added 4,400.

The state’s jobless rate rose in May from 4 percent in April, but seasonal fluctuations in unemployment are common. As the weather warms up, seasonal employers, including parks, add workers and the labor force expands.

But since April 2006, when the department revised how it calculates unemployment data, one month’s jobless rate hadn’t been higher the figure for the same month the year before.

Daniel Nibarger, a Department of Labor economist, said May 2006 was “pretty remarkable.” Unemployment then dipped 0.8 percentage points from April 2006. He said 4.3 percent is still a good, low unemployment rate.

Department of Labor spokeswoman Beth Martino agreed.

“It’s still a pretty tight labor market,” she said.

Revenue projections also suggest a stable economy. They were more than $676 million in May, when state officials expected less than $639 million. For the current fiscal year, from July 1, 2006, through May 31, revenues, at $5.2 billion, were almost $40 million more than expected.

In Kiowa County – where a spring storm spawned a tornado that destroyed more than 90 percent of Greensburg, the county seat – the unemployment rate in May jumped to 11.7 percent, the highest in the state.

But Nibarger said the department isn’t sure how much Kiowa County’s troubles are affecting the state’s overall employment picture. Kiowa County’s entire work force in May was less than 1,100, or 0.07 percent of the state’s total of more than 1.47 million.

The May employment report can be found at www.dol.ks.gov/LMIS/newsrel/pr0706/pr0706.html.