Posted on Fri, Nov. 20, 2009

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Jobless rate down to 7.9 percent

BY DAN VOORHIS

The Wichita Eagle

The Wichita metro area unemployment rate tumbled to 7.9 percent in October, the Kansas Department of Labor reported, down considerably from the double-digit unemployment rate this summer.

The Wichita area hit a revised 10.0 percent in July, and many were worried that the city, plagued by large aircraft layoffs, was headed for worse.

"Wow, that's a long way from 10 percent," economist and Friends University professor Malcolm Harris said about the October numbers.

Wichita's rate fell between the 6.4 percent rate in Kansas and 10.2 percent in the U.S.

The number of Wichitans working rose about 1,400 from September, and the number of people reported as unemployed dropped about 2,100.

But Harris and other analysts caution that the fall in rates reflects normal seasonal changes, rather than an improving economy.

The fall usually sees a dip in the local unemployment rate as students who were searching for work in the summer go back to school.

The recession may be accentuating this trend, by pushing laid-off workers to go back to school. That would remove them from the pool of the unemployed, he said.

Harris also speculated that the decline in unemployment might reflect unemployed workers leaving the area.

But Jeremy Hill, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said it is unlikely there is a big outflow of workers because the rest of the country also is in recession.

He said some workers likely have fallen out of the pool of unemployed because they exhausted their unemployment benefits or became

discouraged and stopped looking for work.

Labor economist Inayat Noormohmad with the Kansas Department of Labor also cautioned against reading an economic rebound into the numbers.

Businesses in Kansas are still cutting hours for their remaining workers, he said.

Companies will hire again only when their existing staffs are working at capacity, he said.

Reach Dan Voorhis at 316-268-6577 or dvoorhis@wichitaeagle.com.

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