Department of Numbers

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Kansas City fell 0.0 percentage points in April 2013 to 6.6%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.0 percentage points lower than the Missouri rate. The unemployment rate in Kansas City peaked in December 2009 at 9.1% and is now 2.5 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 6.3% in November 2012, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.3 percentage points. You can also compare Kansas City unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate April 2013 Month/Month Year/Year
National 7.5% -0.1 -0.6
Missouri 6.6% -0.1 -0.4
Kansas City 6.6% 0.0 -0.2
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with April 2013 data as May metro level unemployment data has not yet been released.

Unemployment Rate: Kansas City, Missouri, National

Kansas City, Missouri monthly unemployment rate chart

Note: Recessions shown in gray.

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployed

The number of people unemployed in Kansas City peaked in February 2010 at 95,237. There are now 26,775 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 65,702 in December 2012, the number of unemployed has now grown by 2,760. Kansas City employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Kansas City, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons April 2013 Month/Month Year/Year
Kansas City 68,462 -81 -2,668

Number of Unemployed Persons

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate 		Missouri
Unemployment Rate 		Kansas City
Unemployment Rate 		Kansas City
Unemployed
May
2013 		7.6% — — —
April
2013 		7.5% 6.6% 6.6% 68,462
March
2013 		7.6% 6.7% 6.6% 68,543
February
2013 		7.7% 6.7% 6.6% 68,500
January
2013 		7.9% 6.6% 6.4% 66,632
December
2012 		7.8% 6.6% 6.3% 65,702
November
2012 		7.8% 6.6% 6.3% 65,942
October
2012 		7.9% 6.7% 6.4% 66,442
September
2012 		7.8% 6.8% 6.5% 67,229
August
2012 		8.1% 7.0% 6.5% 68,213
July
2012 		8.2% 7.1% 6.6% 69,277
June
2012 		8.2% 7.0% 6.7% 70,232
May
2012 		8.2% 7.0% 6.8% 70,851

1. Metro area unemployment rates are now seasonally adjusted. The BLS has started publishing smoothed seasonally adjusted metropolitan area data which makes comparisons to state and national data more relevant than the unadjusted numbers. ↩

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