Kansas has traditionally had a lower unemployment rate than the nation at large. But that looks to be changing next year, if analyst predictions hold true.
As The Wichita Eagle reports, the latest numbers have Kansas at 4.4 percent unemployment, slightly lower than the national average. But the U.S unemployment rate just dropped once again, to 4.6 percent. Meanwhile, experts expect the Kansas unemployment rate to rise to about 4.7 percent in 2018 based on current data.
Governor Sam Brownback has consistently pointed to Kansas’s low jobless rate as proof that his tax schemes have been successful. But over the past year the nation at large has made steady gains, while Kansas has been losing jobs.
Kansas has shed about one percent of its labor force in the last year, according to the nonpartisan Kansas Legislative Research Department. In that same period, the U.S. grew by 1.2 percent.