Kansas loses jobs in February for first time since 2011, according to state survey

Kansas saw its first year-over-year job loss since 2011 in February, according to the Kansas Department of Labor.

The number of jobs statewide shrank by 5,400 last month compared to February 2015, on a seasonally adjusted basis. The number was also down 1,900 jobs from January.

The disappointing jobs number continues a trend of increasingly slow employment growth in Kansas at a time when the U.S. job growth continues at a healthy clip.

But the job numbers, which come from a survey of employers, have left some economists puzzled.

A separate monthly employment survey of households showed growth of more than 22,000 people working from a year ago. The household survey is the source for calculating the unemployment rate.

As a result, the state’s unemployment rate remained low, a seasonally adjusted 4.0 percent. The Wichita area unemployment rate, which is not seasonally adjusted, was 4.7 percent.

The Department of Labor, in an e-mailed statement, said that it also is uncertain about the discrepancy.

It noted that the household survey counts people, while the employer survey counts jobs. The household survey includes agricultural workers, unpaid family workers and self-employed, while the employer survey does not.

And a person working two jobs is counted as two on the employer survey and one on the household survey, which actually makes the discrepancy worse.

The state said that it has not done an analysis of the why the two surveys are so different. The state is responsible for doing the surveys, although the process is controlled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Jeremy Hill, director of the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University, said he is waiting for an in-depth recalibration of the numbers before he will feel entirely confident in them.

“The labor market has looked crazy,” he said. “The household side shows they are expanding and then if you go to the business side, at state level, we really didn’t do very well.”

Generally, economists place more confidence in the employer numbers, he said. And the February numbers seem to square with what he is seeing in the economy.

The job losses seem to be coming in areas outside of the major metro areas, he said. He sees the continued impact of a stronger dollar and a slowing global economy on manufacturing; low prices on oil and gas workers; and low grain and livestock prices on agriculture-related employment.

But the biggest loser, he said, is construction employment.

There have been significant cuts in government, highway and school construction. And, he said, residential and commercial contractors were able to work through the fall and winter because of mild weather and may have pulled much of their work forward.

“When I talk to my contacts in the construction industry, they were not optimistic about Kansas compared to the U.S.,” he said. “With housing, there is still this income divide, and they’re not sure how much demand for new housing there will be.”

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 10:53 AM with the headline "Kansas loses jobs in February for first time since 2011, according to state survey."