Kansas sees growth in jobs and wages in August

photo by: Kansas Department of Revenue

Kansas Department of Revenue

TOPEKA – The Kansas labor market continued to show signs of strength in August as the state added 3,600 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.3 percent.

The Kansas Department of Labor also said Friday that the tight labor supply in Kansas drove up wages during the month as average nominal hourly earnings rose to $24.04, which is up 4 percent from last month and up 4.6 percent from a year ago.

“August estimates indicate a tightening labor market in Kansas,” labor economist Emilie Doerksen said in a news release. “The number of private sector jobs continued to increase and employers reported over the year growth in average weekly earnings for both goods producing and service providing industries.”

Since August 2017, the department said, Kansas has added 26,600 nonfarm jobs, including 21,000 private-sector jobs.

Most of the job growth in August, however, was in the public sector as school employees returned to work. Public-sector employment accounted for 3,300 of the 3,600 new jobs over the month.

Both the Lawrence and Manhattan metropolitan areas saw big increases in employment over the month and over the year.

The Lawrence market added just over 2,000 jobs during the month, and nearly 2,600 jobs over the past year, as its unemployment rate fell to 3.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the Manhattan area added nearly 2,100 jobs over the month and more than 2,700 jobs over the year as its unemployment rate fell to 3.0 percent.

The jobless rate in the Topeka metropolitan area fell to 3.6 percent in August, down four-tenths of a point from July.

The Wichita area also saw its unemployment rate fall half a point, to 3.8 percent, and on the Kansas side of the Kansas City metropolitan area, unemployment fell four-tenths of a point, to 3.4 percent.

The statewide numbers reported Friday were adjusted for normal and expected seasonal fluctuations. The metropolitan area numbers were not seasonally adjusted.

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