Unemployment Claims Tick Upward For August

Posted September 18, 2023

The United States Department of Labor released its latest unemployment report which shows an increase in initial claims while Missouri reports a minor increase and Kansas remains unchanged for the month.

For the week ending September 9, advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims grew to 220,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the report. The previous week’s level increased to 1,000 from 216,000 to 217,000.

The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.1 percent for the week ending September 2. The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending September 2 was 1,688,000, an increase of 4,000 from the previous week’s revised level. The previous week’s level was revised up by 5,000 from 1,679,000 to 1,684,000.

Missouri

Missouri’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by one-tenth of a percentage point in August 2023, according to Missouri’s August Jobs Report.

The unemployment rate increased to 2.8 percent compared to the July 2023 rate of 2.7 percent.

Missouri non-farm payroll employment decreased by 13,700 jobs, furthermore, private industry employment decreased by 16,100 jobs, and government employment increased by 2,400 jobs.

Kansas

Kansas showed a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 2.7 percent in August, unchanged from July, according to Kansas’ August Labor Market Report.

The Kansas August 2023 unemployment rate decreased from 2.8 percent in August 2022.

Seasonally adjusted jobs for Kansas indicate total nonfarm payroll employment decreased by 4,100 from July. Private sector jobs decreased by 2,700 and government jobs decreased by 1,400.