Department of Numbers

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Kansas City fell 0.0 percentage points in September 2023 to 2.8%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.1 percentage points lower than the Missouri rate. The unemployment rate in Kansas City peaked in April 2020 at 12.4% and is now 9.6 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 2.4% in May 2022, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.4 percentage points. You can also compare Kansas City unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate September 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
National 3.8% 0.0 +0.3
Missouri 2.9% +0.1 +0.3
Kansas City 2.8% 0.0 +0.2
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with September 2023 data as October 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 April 2020 at 137,942. There are now 104,353 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 27,430 in June 2022, the number of unemployed has now grown by 6,159. Kansas City employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Kansas City, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons September 2023 Month/Month Year/Year
Kansas City 33,589 +353 +3,617

Number of Unemployed Persons

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Missouri
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployed
October
2023		 3.9% 3.1% — —
September
2023		 3.8% 2.9% 2.8% 33,589
August
2023		 3.8% 2.8% 2.8% 33,236
July
2023		 3.5% 2.7% 2.8% 32,557
June
2023		 3.6% 2.6% 2.8% 33,184
May
2023		 3.7% 2.5% 2.8% 32,389
April
2023		 3.4% 2.5% 2.7% 32,119
March
2023		 3.5% 2.5% 2.7% 31,290
February
2023		 3.6% 2.6% 2.7% 31,112
January
2023		 3.4% 2.7% 2.7% 31,044
December
2022		 3.5% 2.7% 2.7% 30,848
November
2022		 3.6% 2.7% 2.7% 30,997

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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