KC metro jump in JOBS (Kansas City, St. Louis: 2013, loans, lawyers)

[xenokc]

A friend who works for a MO job placement agency and tracks MO wide jobs says KC has seen a huge increase in job postings in just the last few weeks, much more than last Spring. Checked careerbuilder.com (claims to be the largest curated job site) and indeed there is a big increase. Not as huge a jump as hot metros but more than many markets larger than KC. The site doesn't list all jobs out there but the jump and comparison to other cities is interesting and generally lines up with what MO agency sees.

KC 4663 job postings as of last search, 4.4 ratio of jobs/labor force

Cincy 4658 4.2 (close to KC too)
St. Louis 4009 2.8
San Diego 3814 2.6
Pittsburgh 3246 2.6
Portland 2993 2.5
San Antonio 3110 3.1
Columbus 3630 3.8
Omaha 1281 2.8
Orlando 4152 4.0

More jobs than KC but lower jobs/labor force ratio
Denver 6023 2.2
Dallas 11,746 3.7
Tampa 4903 3.7
Minneapolis 7023 3.8
Atlanta 8879 3.2

No surprise Houston and DC are very hot markets.

Kansas City, MO Jobs on CareerBuilder.com

Jobs in kansas city mo - Careers.org

There are other job sites that list a lot more using bot searches, but there are duplicates or job is actually in other city.

[xenokc]

Chatted again with the friend who tracks jobs for MO state agency and he said they are getting even a faster rate of jobs coming in, faster than they can place people. He said more people are job hopping too, who were underemployed when economy tanked - better jobs are now showing up across the board. Also said temp/part time jobs are ahead of last year but full time jobs growing at much faster rate.

Checked careerbuilder compared to 2 weeks ago (above) and KC is up to about 4870 jobs according that site, outpacing all the other listed cities in growth the last couple of weeks. Simplyhired shows a whopping 50K jobs for KC (47K two weeks ago) but there are many duplicates and a good chunk really aren't based in listed city, probably 10K-15K or so are unique and actually based in KC area. Even so, shows bigger increase than most other cities compared to two weeks ago.

Given that KC's jobs/labor force ratio appears to be higher than most cities, it means you have less competition for a specific job than in other markets.

[Alpha_Dog]

Originally Posted by xenokc

Chatted again with the friend who tracks jobs for MO state agency and he said they are getting even a faster rate of jobs coming in, faster than they can place people. He said more people are job hopping too, who were underemployed when economy tanked - better jobs are now showing up across the board. Also said temp/part time jobs are ahead of last year but full time jobs growing at much faster rate.

Checked careerbuilder compared to 2 weeks ago (above) and KC is up to about 4870 jobs according that site, outpacing all the other listed cities in growth the last couple of weeks. Simplyhired shows a whopping 50K jobs for KC (47K two weeks ago) but there are many duplicates and a good chunk really aren't based in listed city, probably 10K-15K or so are unique and actually based in KC area. Even so, shows bigger increase than most other cities compared to two weeks ago.

Given that KC's jobs/labor force ratio appears to be higher than most cities, it means you have less competition for a specific job than in other markets.

Kansas City Region - 2013 current jobs added -500, -0.05%, one year jobs added 7,000, percentage change 12 month time-frame +0.71% -- overall employment numbers seem pretty flat IMO compared to similar sized U.S. metros. The second half of 2013 should see employment growth in the region bump up to 2-2.3%, with the vast majority of employment gains coming in professional, scientific and technical services. These positions are generally high-skilled, high-paying jobs like IT managers, engineers, lawyers, computer programmers/developers, and advertising services. These are the jobs that Kansas City will need to attract because they can definitely bring higher wages to the region, continue to attract even more job growth and future opportunities for talented workers.


Job Growth by Metropolitan Area | Department of Numbers

[xenokc]

Right, that was in January - flat growth. The MO agency friend said the jump in KC jobs started around March, much higher than last March and than what they forecasted. They are working some Saturdays to keep up, which they haven't done before. The job sites are showing the same thing, with KC posting more jobs lately than US avg (relative to labor force size). Austin hot too, but always has been.

edit: We won't see the results until April BLS data is released in May.

[Alpha_Dog]

So it seems that with KC's low cost of doing business, its central location, strong demand for commercial and industrial loans and high labor productivity, the areas Gross Regional Product is forecast to grow about one-half of one percent faster than the U.S. average over the next two years starting in the second half of 2013. Not really surprising with Ford and GM's recent investments into their Auto plants in Claycomo and Fairfax, the regions continued expansion of its IT, Technology and Health Care sectors, Google Fiber roll-out, and a rebounding Sprint, are all positive signs for the regions employment outlook, new growth opportunities and competitive positioning going forward --- now if you guys could just field a decent MLB team.

[pacificwhim]

Now if we could figure out how to a) Translate some of that job growth into more opportunity and prosperity for people in the poor eastern part of the city, and b) Use economic growth as a catalyst for reforming the KCMO public school system. Imagine how many companies would be drawn to the region by growth and the availability of Google Fiber if the public schools weren't terrible.

[xenokc]

There was a report that KC construction jobs are picking up with housing construction picking up again. And last check showed KC is still growing job posts faster than most markets similar to and larger than KC. But hard to say at what rate they are actually filling those jobs until the May employment report comes out.

The good news is that for KC job seekers, there is likely less competition for a particular job than in other markets - depends on job type of course. IT unemployment in KC is <2% according to MO agency friend, companies have to go outside to find people. We are having trouble finding qualified people to fill IT jobs in literally every city that we have offices, some specialized roles take 6 months to fill.

[TabulaRasa]

It would be nice if things would pick up here in my particular subcategory. There is a bit being posted, but for the most part, in upper management/administration/executive director type roles, which don't interest me. I'm employed, but looking around.

[xenokc]

So if careerbuilder.com is a reliable sample, KC is still adding job postings faster than larger markets. It shows KC now at >5100 job postings, about 500 higher than first post a few weeks ago. Larger markets like Dallas, Denver, MSP, Atlanta are only a few hundred higher. Simplyhired also shows similar rate of increase. Though it could mean KC is having troubles filling positions so jobs are stockpiling.

Either way, good time to look for a job in KC - possibly fewer to compete with for same job compared to other markets.