Job growth in Kansas City metro remains sluggish

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The Kansas City metro continues to lag behind regional and peer cities in growing employment, according to new figures published by the Mid-America Regional Council.

A workforce-indicators report out on Monday shows that while Kansas City has employed 13,000 more people currently than at this point a year ago, it lost 6,700 jobs between February and August.

By comparison, Denver added 6,700 jobs over the same time frame, while St. Louis (8,900), Indianapolis (11,100) and Minneapolis-St. Paul (18,600) all experienced higher employment gains.

Kansas City’s unemployment rate was 5.2 in August, down from the month prior. But that’s a higher unemployment rate than most peer metro areas except Sacramento (5.7) and Charlotte (5.8).

In 2014, job growth grew at a slow but steady rate until October, when it spiked upward quickly. Since then, it has remained flat. The MARC report wondered whether another late-year jump in employment was in the cards for 2015, which remains to be seen.

Check out the full summary here.