Kansas Department of Labor
The unemployment rate in Ellis County dropped again in December from 2.5% in November to 2.3% in December.
Unemployment remained low in most of northwest Kansas except for Russell County, which had a rate of 5.3% in December. Osborne County's jobless rate also increases by 1% from 2.9% in November to 3.9% in December.
Preliminary estimates reported by the Labor Market Information Services division of the Kansas Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 3.6% in December statewide. This is an increase from 3.5% in November and an increase from 2.6% in December 2023.
Seasonally adjusted job estimates for Kansas indicate total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 1,200 from November. Total nonfarm includes private sector and government employers. Private sector jobs increased by 500 over the month, while government increased by 700.
Since December 2023 Kansas' seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs have increased by 18,400. This change is due to an increase of 13,300 private sector jobs and an increase of 5,100 government jobs.
Technical Note: This release includes nonfarm jobs and labor force estimates for December 2024, which are produced using data from two monthly surveys. Data for nonfarm job estimates is collected through a survey of employers while the main input for labor force estimates is a survey of households. Data collected for this report references the week including December 12.