Kansas and Missouri see modest employment gains in June compared with a year ago

The unemployment rate in Kansas was 4.5 percent in June, the same as in June 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Tuesday.

In Missouri, the jobless rate of 5.8 percent in June was a small improvement from 6 percent a year earlier.

The preliminary figures, which are seasonally adjusted, put the number of unemployed in June at 66,500 in Kansas and 179,700 in Missouri.

On the employment side, the government reported 1,403,600 workers on establishment payrolls in Kansas in June, compared with 1,392,100 a year earlier.

On the Missouri side, employers had 2,758,000 on their payrolls in June 2015, compared with 2,735,100 in June 2014.

The data indicated a decline of 13,800 people in the size of the Kansas labor force over the 12 months. On the Missouri side, the labor force grew by about 38,600. The labor force includes people who are working or looking for work.

A release from the bureau said: “Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from May, 12 states had increases and 17 states had no change. Also, 42 states and the District of Columbia had unemployment rate decreases from a year earlier, five states had increases and three states had no change.”

Nationally, the unemployment rate was reported at 5.3 percent in June, which was 0.8 percentage points lower than a year earlier.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 10:49 AM with the headline "Kansas and Missouri see modest employment gains in June compared with a year ago."