Charts of employment in the Wichita metro area, along with Kansas and the United States. Since 1990 the country has experienced three recessions. For the first two, Wichita was able to catch up with the employment growth experienced by the entire nation. For the most recent recession, however, this hasn’t been the case. In fact, as time has progressed since 2010, the gap between Wichita and the nation has grown. Wichita is falling farther behind. You can also see evidence of this in the chart of one-year and five-year changes in employment. The peaks for the five-year series have become…
In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: John Todd joins Bob Weeks and Karl Peterjohn to discuss issues involving the City of Wichita, including the future of Naftzger Park and economic development. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 157, broadcast July 9, 2017. Shownotes Wichita Pachyderm Club on Facebook Article link: An information resource regarding the future of Naftzger Park in downtown Wichita Article link: Downtown Wichita business trends: There has been much investment in Downtown Wichita, both public and private. What has been the trend in business activity during this time? Article link: Downtown Wichita jobs, sort…
The Wichita Eagle's coverage of the number of workers in Downtown Wichita isn't fake news, just wrong news. A recent Wichita Eagle article reported on the number of workers in downtown Wichita, designated as zip code 67202: "The 67202 ZIP code had lost nearly 15 percent of its businesses and 20 percent of its employees in the decade ending in 2015, according to the U.S. Census’s County Business Pattern data. The loss of the State Office Building in 2016 and the Wichita school district’s downtown office this summer -- employees are moving to the former Southeast High School -- will…
A research project by The Brookings Institution illustrates the performance of the Wichita-area economy. Metro Monitor from The Brookings Institution rates metropolitan areas on several indicators. For this year's report, the most recent data included is from 2015. For this year's report, the news for the Wichita area is mixed. For the period 2010 to 2015, Wichita ranks 88th in growth, 69th in prosperity, and 44th in inclusion. (The 100 largest metro areas were ranked.) Looking at just the most recent years, 2014 to 2015, Wichita ranks 73rd in growth, 42nd in prosperity, and 9th in inclusion. That's moving in…
Is the presentation of the number of workers in downtown Wichita an innocent mistake, mere incompetence, or a willful lie? There's a question regarding how many people work in downtown Wichita, the Wichita Eagle reports.[1. Morrison, Oliver. How many people work downtown? Fewer than Census says. Wichita Eagle, May 10, 2017. Available at http://www.kansas.com/news/local/article149848144.html.] Other sources have noticed a discrepancy.[2. Weeks, Bob. Downtown Wichita jobs, sort of. Available at https://wichitaliberty.org/wichita-government/downtown-wichita-jobs/.] At issue is the meaning of "working" in a certain location. Data that the Center for Economic Development and Business Research at Wichita State University supplied to the Wichita Downtown…
Wichita has recovered from recessions, but after the most recent, the city is falling further behind. Since 1990 the country has experienced three recessions. For the first two of these, Wichita was able to catch up with the employment growth experienced by the entire nation. For the most recent recession, however, this hasn't been the case. In fact, as time progressed since 2010, the gap between Wichita and the nation has grown. Following are three charts of private sector employment for the Wichita metro area and the nation. Each is indexed starting with the end of a recession so that…
Even if we accept the measure of jobs used by the City of Wichita, the trend is in the wrong direction. Citizens should ask for truth and accountability. The City of Wichita and its surrogates tell us there are 26,000 daytime workers in downtown Wichita, defined as zip code 67202. There is a serious problem with that number, as it includes workers whose "administrative home" is downtown, even though they work somewhere else.[1. Weeks, Bob. Downtown Wichita jobs, sort of. The claim of 26,000 workers in downtown Wichita is based on misuse of data so blatant it can be described…
The claim of 26,000 workers in downtown Wichita is based on misuse of data so blatant it can be described only as malpractice. Have you heard that 26,000 people work in downtown Wichita, defined as zip code 67202? It's likely you have, as this number appears in many places. It appears in the Wichita city budget. ((City of Wichita. Proposed Budget 2017 - 2018. Page 2. "Over 26,000 workers also populate downtown every day, working in industries such as education, finance, manufacturing, health care, government, and retail.)) It is cited by our chief economic development agency. ((Greater Wichita partnership. Living…
The City of Wichita says it values open and transparent government, but the city lags far behind in providing information and records to citizens. The City of Wichita is proud to be an open and transparent governmental agency, its officials say. Former Mayor Carl Brewer often spoke in favor of government transparency. For example, in his State of the City address for 2011, he listed as an important goal for the city this: "And we must provide transparency in all that we do." When the city received an award for transparency in 2013, a city news release quoted Wichita City…
In this episode of WichitaLiberty.TV: Co-host Karl Peterjohn joins Bob Weeks to discuss the Kansas congressional nominating conventions, taxing and spending in Topeka, and Wichita economic development and promotion. View below, or click here to view at YouTube. Episode 139, broadcast February 19, 2017. Shownotes Spending and taxing in Kansas. Difficulty balancing the Kansas budget is different from, and has not caused, widespread spending cuts. The Wichita economy, according to Milken Institute. The performance of the Wichita-area economy, compared to other large cities, is on a downward trend. Greater Wichita Partnership. Greater Wichita Partnership features untruthful information on its website,…
