Wichita Employment Situation, October 2023

Bob Weeks

on

December 1, 2023

For the Wichita metropolitan area in October 2023, major employment indicators declined from the prior month. Wichita performs poorly compared to its peers.

Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, part of the United States Department of Labor, shows a declining employment situation in the Wichita Metropolitan Statistical Area for October 2023.

Table 1: Comparing October 2023 to the same month of the previous year using not seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force fell, and nonfarm employment rose slightly. The unemployment rate rose from 3.0 percent to 3.4 percent.

Click charts and tables for larger versions.

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Labor Force in October:

In 2022, there were 321,858 people in the labor force (those working or actively seeking work).

In 2023, this slightly decreased to 320,971.

The change from October 2022 to October 2023 is a decrease of 887 people, which is a 0.3% drop. This suggests a small decline in the number of people working or looking for work.

Unemployed Persons in October:

In October 2022, there were 9,551 unemployed people.

By October 2023, this number rose to 10,925.

This is an increase of 1,374 unemployed persons, or a 14.4% rise. This significant increase indicates more people were without jobs and looking for work in October 2023 compared to October 2022.

Unemployment Rate in October:

The unemployment rate was 3.0% in October 2022 and increased to 3.4% in October 2023.

The rate increased by 0.4 percentage points, or 13.3%. This aligns with the increase in unemployed persons and shows a worsening unemployment situation.

Nonfarm Employment in October:

Nonfarm employment (jobs excluding farming) was 311,500 in October 2022 and slightly increased to 311,600 in October 2023.

The change is an increase of only 100 jobs, essentially remaining stable with a 0.0% change. This indicates that job growth in sectors other than farming was almost stagnant.

In summary, for October 2023 in the Wichita Metropolitan Area, there was a slight decrease in the labor force, a notable increase in both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate, and virtually no change in nonfarm employment compared to October 2022. This suggests a slight tightening in the job market with more people struggling to find work, despite the overall number of jobs remaining stable.

Table 2: Looking at October 2023 and the previous two months using smoothed seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force did not significantly change, and the number of employed people fell. The unemployment rate rose from 3.1 percent to 3.2 percent.

I asked ChatGPT about this table:

Labor Force in October:

The labor force (people working or actively seeking work) slightly decreased from 322,064 in September to 321,776 in October, a reduction of 288 people or 0.1%. This indicates a marginal decrease in the number of people working or looking for jobs.

Unemployed Persons in October:

The number of unemployed individuals increased from 9,992 in September to 10,358 in October, an increase of 366 people or 3.7%. This shows a noticeable rise in the number of people who were without jobs and actively seeking employment.

Unemployment Rate in October:

The unemployment rate slightly increased from 3.1% in September to 3.2% in October, a change of 0.1 percentage points. This small increase aligns with the rise in the number of unemployed persons.

Nonfarm Employment in October:

Nonfarm employment (jobs excluding farming) decreased from 312,072 in September to 311,418 in October, a decrease of 654 jobs or 0.2%. This suggests a slight decline in employment opportunities in sectors other than farming.

In summary, for October 2023 in the Wichita Metropolitan Area, there was a slight decrease in the labor force and nonfarm employment, along with a small increase in both the number of unemployed persons and the unemployment rate. This indicates a slight tightening in the job market, with a small but noticeable increase in unemployment and a slight reduction in job opportunities outside of farming.

To learn more about this data and what the employer and household surveys measure, see Visualization: Employment measures. Also, see Counting jobs in Wichita.

Chart 3a, the monthly change in the labor force and employment in Wichita over the past year, shows both gains and losses, with the direction of change on a downward path since March, except for two months.

As of October 2023, the Wichita MSA had 700 (0.2 percent) more jobs than in February 2020, the last full month before the start of the pandemic, and 43,300 (16.3 percent) more jobs than in April 2020, the first month after the beginning of the pandemic. These figures are from the smoothed seasonally adjusted series. The regular seasonally adjusted data is somewhat different, showing a gain of 1,117 jobs (0.4 percent) since before the start of the pandemic, and a gain of 41,910 (15.6 percent) after the pandemic.

Chart 3b, showing changes from the same month one year ago, shows Wichita having more jobs than the year before in every month, although the number is becoming smaller and is now nearly zero.

Chart 6a shows changes in employment from the same month of the previous year for Wichita and the nation. For the most recent seven months, Wichita’s number is smaller than the nation’s, meaning growth of jobs in Wichita has been slower.

Chart 8 shows the unemployment rate for Wichita and the nation. The rate for Wichita is almost always lower.

Chart 7 shows employment change for Wichita and a select group of peers over a period of nearly four years. The metropolitan areas in this chart are near Wichita, or that Wichita business leaders visited on learning expeditions. The number of jobs in Wichita is nearly unchanged.

Chart 8 shows changes over the month and year. In this measure and the previous, Wichita is below nearly all of its peers.

Charts 4a and 4b show changes in jobs for Wichita and the nation over longer periods. The change is calculated from the same month of the previous year. For times when the Wichita line was above the nation, Wichita was growing faster than the nation. This was often the case during the decades starting in 1990 and 2000. Since 2010, however, Wichita has only occasionally outperformed the nation and sometimes has been far below the nation.