Wichita area unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent

The Wichita area unemployment rate fell sharply to 5.7 percent in August – from 6.5 percent in July – as students working or searching for work returned to school.

Last month’s rate is also an improvement over August 2013, when the rate was also 6.5 percent.

The local rate wasn’t adjusted to eliminate seasonal factors such as summer jobs or the Christmas hiring surge.

For Kansas, the not-seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in August was 4.8 percent, down from 5.4 percent in July.

Elsewhere in Kansas, the rates were: 4.6 percent for Lawrence, 5.1 percent for Topeka, 5 percent for the Kansas side of Kansas City and 4.7 percent for Manhattan.

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 10:05 AM with the headline "Wichita area unemployment rate falls to 5.7 percent."