KDOL

The unemployment rate in Ellis County fell slightly to 2.5 percent in March, down from 2.6 percent in February.

Jobless rates were relatively flat across northwest Kansas, with only a handful of regional counties above the 3 percent mark. At 3.7 percent, Trego and Rooks counties have the highest unemployment rates in March.

Click the chart above for a complete county-by-county breakdown.

Preliminary estimates reported by the Kansas Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.4 percent in March. This was unchanged from February and down from 3.7 percent in March 2017.

“Kansas employers added jobs in March,” said Secretary Lana Gordon. “This is the tenth consecutive month of job growth, which is good news for Kansas.”

Seasonally adjusted job estimates indicate total Kansas nonfarm jobs increased by 2,100 from February. Private sector jobs, a subset of total nonfarm jobs, increased by 2,200 from the previous month.

“The survey of Kansas employers this month reported an increase in three key areas. These are the number of jobs, the number of average weekly hours worked, and real hourly earnings compared to one year ago,” said Senior Labor Economist, Tyler Tenbrink. “This indicates employers are demonstrating a stronger demand for labor compared to last year at this time.”

Since March 2017, Kansas gained 10,700 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs and 9,400 private sector jobs.