TOPEKA – After a sudden increase in March, Franklin County’s unemployment rate made a sharp drop in April. The increase featured an increase in seasonal jobs as certain sectors such as construction, and tourism and hospitality ramp up for the summer. The county’s unemployment rate dropped in April to 7.6 from 10 percent in March. All of the other surrounding counties in east-central Kansas also showed drops in their jobless rates. Those include Anderson County, to 6.4 percent in April from 7.9 percent in March; and Miami County, 6.3 from 7.6 percent. The Kansas unemployment rate went to 5.8 percent from 6.6 percent. “We should be pleased that Kansas continues to experience job growth,” Karin Brownlee, Kansas secretary of labor, said. “This overall picture of measured, steady gains is acceptable at this time.” The rate at which private-sector jobs in Kansas were lost slowed down, but the rate at which the private sector added jobs also slowed, said Tyler Tenbrink, labor economist. “The pace of job creation in Kansas has slowed in the past three months,” he said. “April added only 100 seasonally adjusted jobs over the month. This sluggish growth is reflective of what is happening in the national economy as gross domestic product growth has slowed creating an environment that is not favorable for steady job growth.”
Friday, March 25, noon
