How has Kansas fared since the start of the pandemic compared to other states and the nation? Updated through June 2021.
(These examples are taken from my interactive visualization which holds data on all states and the nation. See Employment and unemployment in the states. It is updated through June 2021.)
The first chart shows levels: The number of people in the labor force, the number of employed people, and the number of unemployed people. This data is from the Bureau of Labor Statistics household survey (CPS), which counts the number of people in each state for each category. In particular, a person who has two or more jobs is counted as one employed person. Also, people are counted in the state of their residence, even though their job may be in a different state.
Given this, the data shows more people with jobs in Kansas in June 2021 than in March 2020, 0.5 percent more. This is better than neighboring states except for Colorado and Oklahoma and better than the nation.
The unemployment rate for Kansas is both lower and higher than neighboring states.
There is more than one way to count jobs and employment. See Counting jobs in Kansas.
As always, you may use the interactive visualization to create your own charts and tables. The link is above.
Click charts for larger versions.
