The unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the last eight years. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.
How does the Wichita metropolitan area compare with others regarding employment, labor force, and unemployment rate? A nearby example shows data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor. It compares the average of all United States metropolitan areas to the Wichita metropolitan area. The chart starts with January 2011, about one and one-half years after the end of the Great Recession, and ends with August 2019, which is the most recent data for this series.
We observe that the unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation is nearly equal over the time period. Job growth for Wichita, however, has been much slower than the nation, and the labor force for Wichita is actually smaller than in January 2011. This is what has led to a low unemployment rate in Wichita: Slow job growth paired with a declining labor force.
This illustration came from an interactive visualization I created from BLS data. Click here to learn more and use the visualization.
