By the Kansas Department of Labor
IMPORTANT NOTE: This release includes nonfarm jobs and labor force estimates for October 2023, which are produced using data from two monthly surveys. Data for nonfarm job estimates is collected through a survey of employers while the main input for labor force estimates is a survey of households. Data collected for this report references the week including October 12.
TOPEKA, Kan. — Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services (LMIS) division of the Kansas Department of Labor (KDOL) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.9% in October. This is an increase from 2.8% in September and a decrease from 3.0% in October 2022.
“There was a small increase in the unemployment rate for Kansas, edging up to 2.9% in October,” said labor economist, Emilie Doerksen. “However, there was no change in the labor force participation rate at 66.7%, which remains significantly higher than the U.S. labor force participation rate at 62.7%.”
Seasonally adjusted job estimates for Kansas indicate total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 3,200 from September. Total nonfarm includes private sector and government employers. Private sector jobs increased by 2,400 over the month, while government increased by 800.
Since October 2022 Kansas’ seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs have increased by 15,600. This change is due to an increase of 8,300 private sector jobs and an increase of 7,300 government jobs.
Complete Kansas labor market information for October is available here.
The November 2023 Labor Report will be released Friday, December 22.
Technical Notes
- Current Employment Statistics (CES) program: https://www.bls.gov/sae/overview.htm
• Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program: https://www.bls.gov/lau/laumthd.htm
The Kansas unemployment rate is based on data collected through the Current Population Survey (CPS) and estimates produced by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. The LAUS data is produced in cooperation with the BLS, which means that the same methodology is used for all states (https://www.bls.gov/lau/laumthd.htm). Data for the number of individuals receiving unemployment insurance benefits is based on administrative data from claimants filing unemployment insurance claims with KDOL. These two measures offer distinct but related measures of trends in joblessness.
Audio clip of the Labor Market Report quote by labor economist, Emilie Doerksen, is available online, courtesy of the Kansas Department of Labor.
