Department of Numbers

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment

The BLS reported that the unemployment rate for Kansas City fell 0.0 percentage points in November 2020 to 4.9%. 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 6.8 percentage points lower. From a post peak low of 4.9% in October 2020, the unemployment rate has now grown by 0.0 percentage points. You can also compare Kansas City unemployment with unemployment in other cities.

Unemployment Rate November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
National 6.7% -0.2 +3.1
Missouri 4.4% -0.2 +1.0
Kansas City 4.9% 0.0 +1.6
Note: Metro level data is now seasonally adjusted.1 All comparisons are made with November 2020 data as December 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 77,004 fewer people unemployed in the metropolitan area. From a recent trough of 54,513 in October 2020, the number of unemployed has now grown by 240. Kansas City employment and jobs data (including jobs lost/gained in Kansas City, Missouri) is also available.

Unemployed Persons November 2020 Month/Month Year/Year
Kansas City 54,753 +240 +16,690

Number of Unemployed Persons

Kansas City, Missouri Unemployment History

Date National
Unemployment Rate		 Missouri
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployment Rate		 Kansas City
Unemployed
December
2020		 6.7% — — —
November
2020		 6.7% 4.4% 4.9% 54,753
October
2020		 6.9% 4.6% 4.9% 54,513
September
2020		 7.8% 4.8% 5.4% 59,911
August
2020		 8.4% 7.0% 7.1% 79,573
July
2020		 10.2% 6.9% 7.1% 79,849
June
2020		 11.1% 7.8% 7.9% 87,832
May
2020		 13.3% 10.1% 11.1% 123,742
April
2020		 14.8% 10.2% 11.7% 131,757
March
2020		 4.4% 3.9% 3.2% 37,241
February
2020		 3.5% 3.5% 3.3% 37,365
January
2020		 3.5% 3.5% 3.3% 37,868

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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