Wichita Employment Situation, July 2024

For the Wichita metropolitan area in July, most employment indicators worsened from the prior month. Wichita continues to perform poorly compared to its peers.

Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor, shows a mixed employment situation in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area for July 2024.

Table 1: Comparing July 2024 to the same month of the previous year using not seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force grew, and nonfarm employment rose. The unemployment rate rose from 3.3 percent to 4.7 percent.

Click charts and tables for larger versions.

I asked ChatGPT about this table:

The table provides employment data for the Wichita metropolitan area, focusing on June and July of 2023 and 2024. Here’s a breakdown:

July 2024 Highlights:

• Labor Force: The labor force in July 2024 is 328,869, which is an increase of 3,856 people (1.2%) compared to July 2023.
• Unemployed Persons: There were 15,433 unemployed individuals in July 2024, which is 4,551 more than in July 2023, marking a significant rise of 41.8%.
• Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate rose from 3.3% in July 2023 to 4.7% in July 2024, reflecting a 42.4% increase in the rate of unemployment.
• Nonfarm Employment: Nonfarm employment reached 311,900 in July 2024, up by 6,300 jobs (2.1%) compared to July 2023.

Key Takeaways:

• While the labor force and nonfarm employment grew moderately over the year, there is a sharp increase in unemployment, indicating that more people are out of work despite a growing labor market.
• The rise in the unemployment rate suggests that the job growth in nonfarm sectors hasn’t kept pace with the number of people entering the workforce, or that existing jobs may not match the skills or needs of the unemployed population.

Table 2: Looking at July 2024 and the previous two months using smoothed seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force rose slightly and the number of employed people also fell very slightly. The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percent to 3.5 percent.

I asked ChatGPT about this table:

The table provides employment data for the Wichita metropolitan area for May, June, and July of 2024. Here’s a simple breakdown:

July 2024 Highlights:

• Labor Force: The labor force in July 2024 increased slightly to 324,063, up by 574 people (0.2%) compared to June 2024.
• Unemployed Persons: The number of unemployed people rose to 11,471 in July, up by 610 (5.6%) from the previous month, indicating more people were out of work.
• Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate edged up from 3.4% in June to 3.5% in July, a minor increase of 2.9%.
• Nonfarm Employment: Nonfarm employment saw a minimal decline in July, down by 36 jobs from June, remaining fairly steady at 312,592.

Key Takeaways:

• There was a small increase in the labor force and unemployment in July, indicating a slight rise in the number of people looking for work.
• The increase in unemployed persons, along with a steady unemployment rate, suggests that job growth has not kept up with the number of people entering the job market.
• Nonfarm employment stayed relatively flat, signaling a stable but stagnant job market.
  To learn more about this data and what the employer and household surveys measure, see Visualization: Employment measures. Also, see Counting jobs in Wichita.

Chart 3a, the monthly change in the labor force and employment in Wichita, shows both gains and losses, with a generally positive trend since February.

As of July 2024, the Wichita MSA had 1,934 (0.6 percent) more jobs than in February 2020, the last full month before the start of the pandemic, and 43,647 (16.2 percent) more jobs than in April 2020, the first month after the beginning of the pandemic. These figures are from the smoothed seasonally adjusted series. The regular seasonally adjusted data is somewhat different, showing a gain of 8,100 jobs (2.6 percent) since before the start of the pandemic, and a gain of 51,400 (19.4 percent) after the pandemic.

Chart 3b, showing changes in labor force and employment from the same month one year ago, shows Wichita having fewer jobs for the last four months.

Chart 6a shows changes in employment from the same month of the previous year for Wichita and the nation. The two trendlines share a similar trend, which is mostly declining.

Chart 8 shows the unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation. The rate for Wichita has been lower until July..

Chart 7 shows employment change for Wichita and a select group of peers over a period of four years, starting just before the pandemic. The metropolitan areas in this chart are near Wichita or that Wichita business leaders visited on learning expeditions. The number of jobs in Wichita has grown only slightly, and is below most of these peers.

Chart 8 shows changes over the month and year. In this measure, like the previous, Wichita is below nearly all of its peers. Of this chart, ChatGPT said:

The table presents employment data for various metropolitan areas in June 2024, focusing on three key metrics: month-over-month percentage change, month-over-month percentage change compounded annually (CAGR), and year-over-year percentage change. Here’s a focused summary and analysis of the data for Wichita, KS, along with a general comparison to other areas:

In July 2024, Wichita, KS showed stagnant employment growth with a 0.0% month-over-month (MoM) change in employment. Its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for employment was -0.1%, and the year-over-year (YoY) employment change was -0.4%. This indicates a slight decline in overall employment trends for Wichita compared to other areas.

Key Comparisons:

• Higher Growth Cities:
  • Boise City, ID saw the highest MoM growth at 0.5%, with a strong CAGR of 5.7% and a YoY increase of 2.3%.
  • Little Rock, AR also performed well, with 0.4% MoM growth, a 5.4% CAGR, and a 2.5% YoY rise.
• Moderate Growth Cities:
  • Austin, TX had 0.2% MoM growth, a solid CAGR of 1.9%, and a YoY increase of 1.5%.
  • Chattanooga, TN-GA and Jackson, MS both showed 0.3% MoM growth, with CAGRs of 3.5% and 3.2% respectively.
• Declining Areas:
  • Des Moines, IA had a notable decline, with -0.4% MoM, -4.6% CAGR, and -1.7% YoY.
  • Cedar Rapids, IA and Lawrence, KS also saw negative employment trends, with declines in both MoM and YoY figures.

Wichita vs. Other Areas:

• Compared to other regions, Wichita’s 0.0% MoM growth and -0.4% YoY decline make it one of the weaker performers. While cities like Boise City and Little Rock are seeing significant growth, Wichita remains stagnant, similar to other Kansas areas like Manhattan (-0.6% CAGR) and Lawrence (-2.3% CAGR), which are also underperforming.

Wichita’s employment growth in July 2024 remained flat, with a 0.0% month-over-month change and a -0.4% year-over-year decline. This stagnant performance contrasts with many other regions experiencing steady or even robust growth. Wichita’s slight decline suggests potential economic challenges, such as limited job creation or an inability to keep up with workforce demands. Compared to more dynamic metro areas, Wichita may need stronger economic drivers or policy changes to stimulate growth and prevent further decline.

Charts 4a and 4b show changes in jobs for Wichita and the nation over longer periods. The change is calculated from the same month of the previous year. For times when the Wichita line was above the nation, Wichita was growing faster than the nation. This was often the case during the decades starting in 1990 and 2000. Since 2010, however, Wichita has only occasionally outperformed the nation and sometimes has been far below the nation.

(For data on all metropolitan areas in the nation, see my interactive visualization Metro area employment and unemployment.)

The link to the archived version of the BLS news release for this month may be found here.