Jobless rate on rise in Kansas

Unemployment rates are up across the state, with Harvey County posting a 0.9 percent increase from December to January, and the state unemployment rate rising from 4.9 percent to 6.4 percent.

The state’s highest rate in all of 2008 was 4.9 percent in July and December. The state average for 2008 was 4.4 percent.

The Kansas Department of Labor released the numbers last week, and the data shows the state is seeing the effects of the recession.

“We’ve seen a sharp increase in unemployment in January, and it is not surprising given the increases we’ve seen in recent months in the number of first-time claims for unemployment benefits,” Labor Secretary Jim Garner stated in a news release. “While I expect the situation to get worse before it gets better, we are fortunate to have additional assistance available to unemployed workers through the federal Recovery and Reinvestment Act.”

The Recovery Act has allowed the state to distribute an addition $25 a week in unemployment, and thousands of unemployed Kansans will be eligible to receive up to 20 weeks of extended unemployment benefits, Garner said. The cut-off date to apply for extended benefits has gone from March 30 to the end of the year.

There were 26,744 initial claims for unemployment benefits in January, down from 37,482 claims in December and up from 13,542 in January 2008.

The state unemployment rate still is below the national rate, with the Bureau of Labor Statistics reporting a 7.6 percent national unemployment rate in January and an 8.1 percent rate in February. But the state numbers continue to rise.

All 105 counties in Kansas saw an increase in unemployment rates in January, as compared with December. The largest increases were in the eastern part of the state.

For example, Wyandotte County in northeast Kansas had a January unemployment rate of 14.2 percent, the highest in the state and up 6.3 percent since December. Doniphan County, also in the northeast, jumped 6.3 percent to 13.5 percent. Linn County, on the Missouri state line, is at 10.2 percent for January, up 3.7 percent from December.

The lowest increases were in northwest Kansas, with Sheridan County at 2.9 percent, up 0.2 percent from December, and Cheyenne and Norton counties both rising 0.3 percent to sit at 2.6 and 3.8 percent, respectively.

In December, 14 Kansas counties were at 6.0 percent or higher. In January, that number more than doubled to 34.

Harvey County was not one of those counties but still saw the unemployment rate increase 0.9 percent in January to 4.8 percent, which is up from 3.6 percent in January 2008. The highest month in 2008 was July, when Harvey County’s unemployment rate was 4.5 percent.

The unemployment rate for Wichita metro service area, which includes Butler, Harvey, Sedgwick and Sumner counties, was at 5.8 percent in January, up from 4.9 percent in December.