OTTAWA — The Kansas unemployment rate remained unchanged in July at 3.7 percent. However, the unemployment rate for Franklin county and most of the surrounding counties bumped up in July. Although the state rate didn’t change, there have been improvements over the years, said Lana Gordon, Kansas secretary of labor. “The Kansas unemployment rate made significant improvements early this calendar year falling to the low level of 3.7 percent,” she said. “This month, the rate remains at 3.7 percent, the lowest rate since the fall of 2000.” That was echoed by state labor economist Tyler Tenbrink. “Employers scheduled more hours for existing workers during the month compared to one year ago. This, along with an increase in hourly earnings contributed to a notable gain in average weekly earnings for July,” he said. “The estimated changes in the number of jobs and the size of the labor force were not significant this month.”
The unemployment rate for Franklin County increased to 4.3 percent in July from 4 percent in June. In Miami County, the rate went from 4.2 percent from 3.9 percent.
Anderson County’s jobless rate remained steady at 4.6 percent in July. In other counties, Osage County edged up to 4.4 from 4.3; Douglas County up to 3.9 from 3.8; Linn County up to 6.6 from 6.4; Johnson County up to 3.5 from 3.3; and Coffey County up to 6.3 from 5.8.
Tuesday, Aug. 29, 4 p.m.
