The U.S. Capitol on the evening of Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, just hours before a federal government shutdown. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
TOPEKA — Kansas won’t release its monthly labor reports as a result of the federal government shutdown, the Kansas Department of Labor announced Friday.
September’s monthly jobs report and unemployment data were scheduled to publish Friday, but a lapse in funding for the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics caused data collection, analysis and distribution activities to cease Oct. 1.
“This report provides the public with important information about the state of the Kansas labor market,” said Derek Helms, a spokesperson for the state labor department. “For example, are job estimates increasing or decreasing? Which industries are adding jobs? How many people are unemployed?”
Delayed data releases have arisen as one symptom of the federal government shutdown as it enters its third week, while state operations largely continue.
The monthly state report typically provides preliminary data on job estimates by industry, unemployment rates and labor estimates, Helms said. It is the state-level equivalent of the monthly U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment Situation report. Jobs and labor data, even if preliminary, inform key economic indicators.
“The immediate impact is a delay in access to this important information about the Kansas labor market,” Helms said. “The official statistics used by analysts, economists and policymakers are only available through August 2025. Estimates for more recent time periods won’t be available until federal operations resume.”
Kansas’ unemployment rate has remained steadily around 3.8% in the past year, according to data through August. The state lost 4,700 nonfarm jobs and 1,300 private sector jobs in August. Kansas ranked near last in the nation for percentage gain in nonfarm payroll employment in the past year, according to the data.
Between July and August, the state’s leisure and hospitality services sector was the best performing, gaining around 600 jobs. State and local government and trades, transportation and utilities were the worst performing. The government sector lost around 3,500 jobs and the trades lost around 2,100.
The government sector has been on the decline for the past year, according to the data. It has remained the worst performing sector with a loss of around 9,200 between August 2024 and August 2025.
The private education and health services and financial activities sectors were the strongest in the past year, gaining 3,300 and 2,600 jobs respectively.
