Total nonfarm employment for the Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,099,800 in May 2018, up 16,000, or 1.5 percent, from May 2017, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, nonfarm employment nationwide rose 1.6 percent. Assistant Commissioner for Regional Operations Stanley W. Suchman noted that the Kansas City area’s May increase was its 93^rd consecutive over-the-year employment gain. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. Data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, analysis is based on over-the-year comparisons.)

The Kansas City metropolitan area is comprised of two separately identifiable employment centers—the Missouri portion and the Kansas portion of the MSA. The Missouri side, which had 56 percent of the area’s workforce, added 4,300 jobs (+0.7 percent) from May 2017 to May 2018, and the Kansas side added 11,700 jobs (+2.5 percent). While this marked the smallest gain since January 2014 for the Missouri side, it was the largest gain since February 2015 for the Kansas side.

Trade, transportation, and utilities, the metropolitan area’s largest supersector, had the largest employment increase, adding 6,300 jobs since May 2017, with nearly all of the gain in the Kansas portion of the area. This supersector’s 3.0-percent rate of local job growth was more than double the national gain of 1.3 percent.

Government had the second-largest annual employment gain in the local area with an increase of 4,800 jobs. The growth was led by the addition of 4,100 government jobs in the Missouri portion of the Kansas City area. The local rate of job gain for this supersector was 3.2 percent over the year, while nationally, employment was essentially unchanged. 

Four additional local supersectors had annual job gains of more than 2,000 from May 2017 to May 2018. Employment in professional and business services rose by 3,600 over the year due entirely to a gain of 3,700 jobs in the Kansas portion of the area. The 1.9-percent rate of local job growth compared to a national rate of 2.4 percent. Leisure and hospitality added 3,400 jobs as employment on the Missouri side increased by 4,200. The 3.0-percent rate of local job growth outpaced the national rate of 1.6 percent. The financial activities and mining, logging, and construction supersectors each added 2,200 jobs over the year. Locally, employment grew 2.8 percent in financial activities and 4.4 percent in mining, logging, and construction.

Two supersectors lost more than 1,000 jobs in the Kansas City area over the year. Manufacturing employment was down by 4,100 and employment in education and health services declined by 1,800. Losses in both industries were attributable to employment declines in the Missouri portion of the area. While these supersectors had local job loss rates of 5.3 and 1.2 percent, respectively, both supersectors gained jobs nationally. 

Metropolitan area employment data for June 2018 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, August 1, 2018, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2012 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria.

For some employment series, the sample of establishments is very small or highly variable. In these cases, a model-based approach is used in estimation. These models use the direct sample estimates (described above), combined with forecasts of historical (benchmarked) data to decrease volatility in estimation. Two different models (Fay-Herriot Model and Small Domain Model) are used depending on the industry level being estimated. For more detailed information about each model, refer to the BLS Handbook of Methods.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey, administrative data, and modeling and, thus, are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability--that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for the total private employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this release. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.pdf.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on July 15, 2015. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Kansas City, Mo.-Kan., Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri; Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

The Kansas City, Mo., portion includes Bates, Caldwell, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Jackson, Lafayette, Platte, and Ray Counties in Missouri. 

The Kansas City, Kan., portion includes Johnson, Leavenworth, Linn, Miami, and Wyandotte Counties in Kansas.

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the BLS website at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service: (800) 877-8339.