For the Wichita metropolitan area in November 2023, major employment indicators declined from the prior month. Wichita continues to perform 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 November 2023.
Table 1: Comparing November 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. The unemployment rate fell from 2.9 percent to 2.5 percent.
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I asked ChatGPT about this table:
- Labor Force: The labor force slightly decreased from 319,711 in November 2022 to 319,011 in November 2023, marking a small reduction of 700 people or 0.2%. This indicates a slight decrease in the number of people available for work or actively seeking employment.
Unemployed Persons: The number of unemployed persons significantly decreased from 9,115 in November 2022 to 7,916 in November 2023, a reduction of 1,199 people or 13.2%. This is a positive sign, showing that fewer people were without work and seeking employment.
Unemployment Rate: Corresponding to the decrease in unemployed persons, the unemployment rate decreased from 2.9% in November 2022 to 2.5% in November 2023, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points or 13.8%. This indicates an improvement in employment conditions, with a lower proportion of the labor force being unemployed.
Nonfarm Employment: Nonfarm employment, which represents the total number of paid workers excluding farm, government, private household, and nonprofit organization employees, slightly increased from 311,300 in November 2022 to 312,800 in November 2023. This is an increase of 1,500 jobs or 0.5%, suggesting a small growth in employment opportunities in sectors such as industry, services, and commerce.
In plain language, in November 2023 compared to November 2022 in the Wichita area, slightly fewer people were looking for work, significantly fewer were unemployed, the unemployment rate was lower, and there were a small number of additional jobs available in the nonfarm sector. Overall, this suggests a modest improvement in the employment situation.
Table 2: Looking at November 2023 and the previous two months using smoothed seasonally adjusted data from the household survey, the labor force fell and the number of employed people fell. The unemployment rate remained 3.2 percent.
I asked ChatGPT about this table:
- Labor Force: The labor force slightly decreased over the three months from September to November 2023, with a notable decrease of 610 people or 0.2% from October to November. This indicates a small but steady decline in the number of people working or actively looking for work.
Unemployed Persons: The number of unemployed persons increased slightly from September to October but then decreased by 156 people or 1.5% from October to November. This fluctuation suggests some variability in the number of people without jobs but actively seeking employment.
Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate remained stable at 3.2% from October to November, with no change. Over the three months, it reflects a slight increase from 3.1% in September. This stability indicates that the proportion of the labor force that is unemployed has not significantly changed in the latest month.
Nonfarm Employment: Nonfarm employment, which represents the total number of jobs excluding farm, government, private household, and nonprofit organization employees, decreased over the three months, with a reduction of 454 jobs or 0.1% from October to November. This suggests a slight decline in employment opportunities in the broader economy.
In plain language, in November 2023 for the Wichita area, there was a small decrease in both the labor force and the number of jobs available, while the number of unemployed persons slightly decreased and the unemployment rate remained stable. Overall, the employment situation shows a slight decline in both workforce participation and job availability, with a relatively stable unemployment rate.
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 November 2023, the Wichita MSA had 628 (0.2 percent) more jobs than in February 2020, the last full month before the start of the pandemic, and 41,421 (15.4 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 1,500 jobs (0.5 percent) since before the start of the pandemic, and a gain of 44,100 (16.6 percent) after the pandemic.
Chart 3b, showing changes in labor force and employment from the same month one year ago, shows Wichita having more jobs than the year before in nearly every month, although the number is becoming smaller and is now negative.
Chart 6a shows changes in employment from the same month of the previous year for Wichita and the nation. For the most recent eight 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 practically unchanged. It is also below most of these peers.
Chart 8 shows changes over the month and year. In this measure, like as 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.
(For data on all metropolitan areas in the nation, see my interactive visualization Metro area employment and unemployment.)
The link to the archived version of the BLS news release for this month may be found here.
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