Kansas Unemployment Remains Steady In December

A new report says the Kansas unemployment rate held steady at 6.8 percent in December and the state saw a slight increase in the number of people holding jobs over the year. Tuesday’s report from the state Department of Labor says that overall, about 4,400 more people held jobs last month than in December 2009. The increase is three-tenths of 1 percent. However small the rise, state officials saw it as a good sign. The department said it was the sixth consecutive month where the number of jobs was slightly higher than during the same month of 2009. But the unemployment rate was higher than it was in December 2009, when it stood at 6.5 percent. The rates are adjusted to factor out normal, seasonal trends.