Department of Numbers

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Kansas City fell 0.1 percentage points in February 2021 to 4.7%. For the same month, the metro unemployment rate was 0.5 percentage points higher than the Missouri rate. The unemployment rate in Kansas City peaked in April 2020 at 11.7% and is now 7.0 percentage points lower. You can also compare Kansas City unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate February 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.2% -0.1 +2.7
Missouri 4.2% -0.1 +0.6
Kansas City 4.7% -0.1 +1.4
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with February 2021 data as March 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 131,757. There are now 76,921 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 54,292 in November 2020, the number of unemployed has now grown by 544. Kansas City employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Kansas City, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons February 2021 Month/Month Year/Year
Kansas City 54,836 -358 +17,471

Number of Unemployed Persons

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Missouri
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployed
March
2021		 6.0% — — —
February
2021		 6.2% 4.2% 4.7% 54,836
January
2021		 6.3% 4.3% 4.8% 55,194
December
2020		 6.7% 4.4% 4.8% 55,213
November
2020		 6.7% 4.7% 4.8% 54,292
October
2020		 6.9% 5.0% 4.9% 54,513
September
2020		 7.8% 5.4% 5.4% 59,911
August
2020		 8.4% 6.0% 7.1% 79,573
July
2020		 10.2% 6.8% 7.1% 79,849
June
2020		 11.1% 8.1% 7.9% 87,832
May
2020		 13.3% 9.6% 11.1% 123,742
April
2020		 14.8% 12.5% 11.7% 131,757

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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