March Unemployment Figures Released

Several signals in recent months have indicated that we are well on our way to economic recovery. Unfortunately we can’t include March’s employment data in that group. The Kansas City metro’s unemployment rate increased in March to 9.3 percent. This is an increase from 9.1 percent last month and 8.4 percent one year ago. The labor force (the count of all people who are either employed, or unemployed and are actively looking for work) declined to 1,025,298, the lowest figure since June of 2006. Meanwhile employment (the number of people who are employed) dropped to 930,131 — its lowest point since September 1996!
We can’t say these figures are a complete surprise. Employment is a lagging indicator, so we will not likely see employment growth until the recovery is deemed to be strong and sustainable. However, the fact that we have to go back to 1996 to see local employment at the same level we have today is still startling. These numbers really speak to the magnitude of the 2008-09 recession. Yes, we believe we are on our way to economic recovery, but it is certainly going to take a while, especially on the employment front.