Leading
January 17, 2012
The Kansas unemployment rate was 6 percent in November 2011. This continues the general decline in unemployment rates since mid-2009, after fluctuating a bit throughout 2011. Kansas employment is expected to remain flat in 2011 when compared to 2010. Gains in the production and service sectors are expected to offset losses incurred in trade, transportation and utilities, as well as the government sectors.
The Kansas economy is expected to stabilize and begin growing at a modest pace. The Center for Economic Development and Business Research estimates total employment growth of 1 percent, for a net increase of 13,010 employees, in 2012.
To read the complete 2012 revised forecast for Kansas, click here.
The Center for Economic Development and Business Research has released a slide presentation comparing the demographic and economic characteristics of the Wichita MSA to those of four other metropolitan areas. Those four metros were chosen because their demographics and industry mix are similar to Wichita.
The Misery Index indicates that people in the United States, as a whole, continue to be more miserable than people in Wichita or Kansas. Wichita residents have continued to be more miserable than Kansas residents in general,
The WSU Current Conditions Index dropped 0.7 percent from September to October. Although employment increased slightly, 0.4 percent, and the unemployment rate dropped 0.8 percentage points, these improvements were not enough to counter the negative impact of a 21.7 percent decline in the number of home sales in the Wichita area for that time period.
Six of the nine WSU Leading Index indicators showed improvement from September to October; yet, the overall Index value increased only 0.2 percent from month to month. The indicators showing the largest percentage increase were the value of residential and nonresidential building permits, 15.1 and 26 percent, respectively.