Topeka ? The state’s unemployment rate dropped to 4.3 percent in April, and some business and government officials saw reasons to hope that the economy will improve.

The rate was 4.6 percent in March, and the Department of Human Resources said Tuesday that the decline in April could be attributed to normal seasonal hiring.

Joblessness still remained higher than it was in 2001, when the April rate was 4 percent. However, the department noted that last month saw the fourth consecutive decline in unemployment.

The news comes on the heals of a recent report indicating that 29 percent of Kansas firms plan to increase employment from July through September. The figure compares to 28 percent for the entire Midwest, according to Manpower Inc., the nation’s largest staffing firm.

According to Kristin Boyd of Manpower’s Topeka office, the report suggests that signs of improvement in the economy will continue in the second quarter of 2002.

“We’re definitely on the uptick,” Boyd said. “There is a turnaround in the economy coming, and we’re not going to see any more decreases.”

The department said 1,376,624 Kansans held jobs in April, while 61,830 were unemployment.

The number of people working was almost the same as it was in March, but March’s civilian labor force had about 4,200 more people, and roughly the same number more were actively seeking work.

In April 2001, 1,318,961 Kansans held jobs, and 55,304 of them were unemployed.

The department said construction companies added about 4,000 jobs in April, service companies hired another 1,900 workers, and trade employment was up about 1,700. The department said all of those trends were normal, given expanded hiring as weather warms in recreation, by lawn services and for lawn and garden stores.

But the Manpower survey suggested hiring would continue. It found the survey found the best prospects in Topeka and Emporia companies planned boost hiring by 40 percent and 37 percent, respectively. Conversely, 13 percent of companies planned to cut their work forces in Wichita and Salina.

Nationally, Manpower surveyed 16,000 companies and found 27 percent of U.S. firms planned to add jobs in July through September, while 8 percent anticipated cutting staff.

Looking forward, Boyd said, the fourth quarter _ October through December _ also should be strong, bolstered by the hiring in the retail sector for the holiday season.

That would be good news to state officials who are hoping for an economic rebound to prop up revenue collections. Layoffs in aviation, telecommunications and other manufacturing, along with sagging individual income payments, have put Kansas in a financial pinch.

Budget Director Duane Goossen agrees with Boyd’s assessment that a recovery is in the offing. He said signs of recovery in recent months have been steady or slightly increasing withholding taxes from workers.

“That’s all good and it will help our receipts recover,” Goossen said. “It’s just going to take a year or 18 months to come back in state revenues.”

The unemployment rates in three of the state’s four major metropolitan areas followed the state trend.

The exception was the Wichita area, where unemployment remained at 5.6 percent. The area, defined as Butler, Harvey and Sedgwick counties, has been hit hardest by aviation layoffs. In state’s portion of the Kansas City metropolitan area, defined as Johnson, Leavenworth, Miami, Wyandotte counties, the jobless rate dropped to 4.7 percent in April from 4.9 percent in March. The Topeka area’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent in April from 4.1 percent in March. The area is defined as Shawnee County.

And in the Lawrence area, or Douglas County, unemployment declined to 3.9 percent in April from 4.2 percent in March.