Kansas has more jobs than unemployed. |

Statewide, employers reported 56,000 unfilled positions in the second quarter — the highest number since a survey began 15 years ago.

If every unemployed person in Kansas took an open job, there still would be unfilled positions, according to a new Kansas Department of Labor report.
11,000 unfilled jobs in the Western half of our State.
There’s a big shortage of nursing employees. Statewide, the occupation with the highest number of vacancies was registered nurse, at 1,654. Nursing assistants were close behind, with 1,567 vacancies. In the three-county local area, employers reported 736 vacancies for registered nurses (again, the occupation with the most vacancies) and 418 openings for nursing assistants.
Just more than two-thirds of all vacancies were for full-time, permanent positions.
Employers rated 69% of vacancies “difficult to fill,” either because of a lack of applicants with necessary skills or experience, a general lack of applicants or a lack of applicants with needed work ethic or soft skills.
Slightly more than 50% of openings either had no education required or required a high school diploma or GED.
Nearly 40% of vacancies had no experience required.
The average low wage offered for full-time, permanent vacancies was $16.24 statewide and $17.13 for the three-county local area. The average low for full-time temporary openings was $13.94 statewide and $17.71 for the local area.

View the entire report, in a better view – https://public.tableau.com/profile/kdol#!/vizhome/KansasJobVacancySurvey2019/JobVacancySurvey2019

RCED currently has over 30 jobs listed on our website for, a free service for local employers. Republic County’s unemployment rate is 2.9% in August 2019.

Our society has become more mobile from 2002-2014 and so has our workforce. This is an opportunity to house more workers within the region thanks to regional growth.