Print edition: 
The Wichita-area unemployment rate remained at 8 percent in June, the same as May and down from 9 percent in June 2009.
Local economists were encouraged by the report, issued today by the Kansas Department of Labor.
They pointed to a rise in the number of people working in the four-county Wichita. The total in June, 290,100, was nearly 3,500 above May's total.
"Given that it's for June, that's a positive sign for Wichita," said Malcolm Harris, an economist and professor at Friends University.
In the summer, the labor force usually rises faster than the number of people working as students hit the pavement searching for work. July typically has the highest unemployment rate of the year.
That didn't happen in June. The rise in the labor pool about matched the increased number of people working, leaving the number of people formally recognized as unemployed about the same.
Those who have given up searching for work, called discouraged workers, aren't included in the labor pool and aren't included in these statistics.
Jeremy Hill, director of the center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said the bulk of the new jobs has come in the medical sector and professional and business services.
"Although health care has slowed down a lot, it's still hiring, and that's beyond just the hospitals," he said. "It's in doctor's offices, clinics, nursing homes."
Harris said there is positive news coming out of the city's manufacturing sector.
"We're 12 months into a national recovery and some of that is spilling into the local economy," he said.
Unemployment rates elsewhere in Kansas:
* The state of Kansas, 6.5 percent in June, up 0.1 percent from May.
* Lawrence, 5.8 percent, up 0.1 percent.
* Topeka, 6.3 percent, down 0.1 percent.
* Kansas City area, 6.9 percent, up .4 percent.
* Manhattan, 5.2 percent, even.
