State Gains 11,000 Private Sector Jobs in April

TOPEKA, Kan. – The Kansas Department of Labor reports the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April declined from 5.8 to 5.3 percent, while the smooth seasonally adjusted number saw a slight decline from 5.6 to 5.5 percent. KDOL processed 13,187 initial claims for unemployment benefits in April, down from 15,069 initial claims in March and down from 14,701 last year.

"In April, the number of initial unemployment claims fell to levels not seen since 2008," Tyler Tenbrink, KDOL Senior Labor Economist. "This shows the rate of job loss has returned to a healthy level, which is good news; however, job growth was not as strong as expected for the month of April."

Overall labor markets in April showed a pause in the seasonally adjusted job growth. However, considering positive growth recorded in building permits issued and average weekly hours of production workers in manufacturing, it seems that this may be a temporary trend.

"Private sector jobs increased by 11,000 and nonfarm jobs gained more than 10,000, " said Lana Gordon, Secretary of Labor. "Looking at our yearly report Kansas gained 12,100 nonfarm jobs and 12,300 private sector jobs since April of 2012."

The May Labor Report will be released on June 20, 2013.

Audio clips of the April Labor Market Report Fact Sheet and quote by Lana Gordon, Secretary of Labor and Tyler Tenbrink, KDOL Senior Labor Economist are available courtesy of the Kansas Department of Labor below.