Its taken a while, but the Kansas Department of Labor has now released the unemployment numbers for January.
The number for Hutchinson in January was 5.4%, up from the 4.5% they say the rate was in December of last year, but considerably lower then the 7.1% rate in January of 2013.
The rate for Reno County in January was 5%, also up from December when the rate was 4.2%, but lower then in January of last year when the rate was 6.4%.
The figures show that there were 1-thousand, 119 residents in the city out of work in January, while the number for the county was 1-thousand, 627. However, most of those out of work were in the city of Hutchinson.
Other area county rates for January include Harvey County at 4.7%, Kingman County at 3%, McPherson County at 4.4%, Pratt County at 3.4%, Rice County at 3.6% and Stafford County at 4.2%. Sedgwick County, the largest county in the area had a rate of 6.3%.
The state January seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.8 percent, down from 4.9 percent in December and down from 5.6 percent in January 2013.
The Department of Labor says Kansas gained 20,500 seasonally adjusted private sector jobs, an increase of 1.9 percent since last January, and 19,200 non-farm jobs, a 1.4 percent increase. Since last month, Kansas gained 2,500 private sector jobs, an increase of 0.2 percent, and 600 non-farm jobs, with no percentage change.
“Seasonally adjusted job numbers in the state improved in January, along with another monthly decline in the unemployment rate,” said Lana Gordon, Secretary of Labor. “For 2014, the state is poised to add additional jobs to the 45,400 jobs gained since January 2011.”
The numbers for February are expected to be released around on March 27.