Kansas Unemployment Falls

A new report shows the Kansas unemployment
rate fell to 6.1 percent in January, with modest job growth over
the previous year.
The state Department of Labor said Tuesday the January jobless
rate declined from 6.4 percent in December and 6.8 percent in
January 2011, with the figures adjusted for seasonal factors.
Department officials said one sign the state’s economy is
improving was January’s increase in jobs from the same month a year
earlier. The number rose by 12,200, or almost 1 percent.
The agency noted that while government jobs declined, private
employers added about 22,000 jobs over the year, an increase of
about 2 percent.
Labor Secretary Karin Brownlee says the job growth in the
private sector is encouraging.