The recent employment news from Topeka was not promising.
The July figures showed a loss of jobs in the state and a smaller workforce compared to July 2015.
Republicans and Democrats are busy spinning the data to support their policies and political views.
Here’s my spin on the July figures and some others that help paint the picture of the state of labor in Kansas.
An estimated 1,429,857
That’s the number of Kansans who were working in the state in July, according to the latest employment data.
That’s about 36,000 more than in July 2010 – or an average increase of roughly 6,000 jobs a year.
Compared to July 2015, it’s a decrease of more than 5,000 jobs.
About 1,490,217
That’s the size of the Kansas labor force. The number includes all those who have jobs and those who are looking for work.
As a measure of economic health, it’s as important as the employment figures.
And it shows the state’s labor force is shrinking. Before the recession started eating away Kansas jobs in 2009, the labor force was growing by a respectable 1.7 percent a year.
In July 2009, Kansas’ labor force still totaled 1,525,282. It dropped to 1,480,926 in July 2012 before it started to grow again – although the growth has been below national averages.
For example, the size of our workforce grew by roughly 1,000 workers between July 2014 and July 2015. This past year, the labor pool dropped significantly – by about 7,000 workers.
Bottom line: The state’s labor force was smaller in July 2016 than in July 2010.
67.1 percent
Kansas has always been a hard-working state, as evidenced by the percentage of people who are working or want jobs.
But the state is showing slippage here too, a result of the shrinking labor pool and lack of jobs.
In 2010, the state’s labor participation rate was 71 percent. The rate is now 67.1 percent, compared to 67.8 percent in July 2015.
That’s still above the national rate of 62.8 percent. And nationally the participation rate also is dropping as many baby boomers retire early.
But while the national rate has dropped 1.8 percentage points since 2010, Kansas’ rate has dropped 3.9 percentage points.
45 percent
That’s the share of people who earn master’s degrees who are employed in Kansas in their first year after graduation. According to data from the state Board of Regents, only about 33 percent of those earning doctoral degrees are employed in Kansas in the first year after earning their degrees.
$18.62 an hour
That’s the average annual manufacturing wage in Kansas, as of July. It dropped by about $1 an hour from July 2015.
Nationally, manufacturing wages were $20.46 an hour on average. That’s an increase of 2.7 percent over the same time period.
As for hours worked by those in manufacturing, the state and national numbers are similar. Employees at Kansas plants worked on average 41.1 hours a week, up 0.7 percent from a year ago.
About $55,000
Average pay for teachers in K-12 public schools in Kansas during the 2014-15 school year was just under $55,000, according to figures from the Kansas Department of Education. Starting salaries averaged about $28,000.
The salary figures include some fringes and benefits, and they are hard to compare to national numbers because different sources use different methodology – such as whether you count part-time teachers, coaching salaries, etc.
But by most reports, Kansas teachers’ compensation is lower than the national average. And since 2010, salaries in Kansas have increased on average less than 1 percent a year.
No. 30
That’s the ranking Kansas received for the quality of its workforce from Chief Executive magazine.
In its annual overall ranking of “Best & Worst States for Business,” the magazine spotted Kansas at 26.
Utah was rated as having the best workforce by the business-centric magazine, which said California and New York had the worst workforces.
What the numbers tell us is that Kansas has work to do.
While we should be somewhat concerned about national rankings among business executives, much more worrisome is the slow erosion of our workforce, especially if it means that we’re losing skilled and educated workers from the state.
A Plains View 