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By Travis Perry │ Kansas Watchdog
OSAWATOMIE — Kansas has regained about half of the private-sector jobs it lost during the Great Recession, but saw a decline in public-sector employment.
At its peak in April 2008, the state had 1,136,400 workers in the private sector. That number tumbled, eventually bottoming out in March 2010 at 1,059,200, equating to a total loss of 77,000 jobs, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Since then, Kansas businesses have added 37,900 positions. The strongest growth in the past 12 months has been in professional and business services — such as accounting, legal representation, security and waste disposal — which added 12,500 jobs, or 8.5 percent, between July 2011 and 2012.
Manufacturing jobs also increased by 4,300, or 2.7 percent, during the same time period.
However, public-sector jobs have decreased after peaking at 268,000 in August 2010. Public employment has since declined by 14,400 jobs, or 5.4 percent, as of July.
In the past year, federal and local government jobs in Kansas each dropped by 1,200. The state government saw the smallest reduction, losing 600 jobs since July 2011.
Officials with the Kansas Governor’s Office were not available for comment Friday.
Contact Travis Perry at travis@kansaswatchdog.org, or follow him on twitter at @kansaswatchdog.
