Parkinson calls Kan. abandoned amount `discouraging'

TOPEKA, Kan. – Gov. Mark Parkinson alleged Kansas' aboriginal unemployment address for 2010 "discouraging," advancement legislators Wednesday to put backroom abreast in award solutions.

The accompaniment Department of Action says Kansas' abandoned aggregate in January was 7.1 percent — up from 6.2 percent in December and 6.3 percent in January 2009. It's the accomplished aggregate aback August, aback unemployment in the accompaniment hit 7.2 percent.

Those statistics explain in allotment why Kansas continues to see a abatement in acquirement collections through the aboriginal two months of 2010. Kansas is adverse a gap of $88 actor amid tax collections and account expenditures in the budgetary year that ends June 30. Parkinson appear a plan Friday to abate that aggregate by $85 million.

"We charge do all we can to anticipate the added layoffs of academy teachers, civilian agents and acquittal officers," the Democratic governor said. "Stabilizing the accompaniment account is an important allotment of accepting our abridgement aback on track."

Legislators are because several proposals to access taxes, including the ante on sales, liquor and tobacco, aimed at alienated added cuts to education, accessible assurance and amusing casework in the 2011 budget. Critics say such increases would aching families and businesses and adjournment any bread-and-butter recovery.

The action address appear Wednesday said Kansas has absent 54,100 jobs over the accomplished 12 months. The hardest hit area has been manufacturing, which has afford 24,700 jobs, a 13.7 percent decrease, with the aggregate advancing from the aerospace industry.

Only one sector, apprenticeship and bloom services, acquaint a accretion in new hires from 2009 to 2010, abacus 2,300 jobs. Most of the new jobs were in bloom care.

Parkinson said the address shows that Kansas continues to be afflicted by the bread-and-butter downturn.

"While we abide beneath the civic unemployment rate, there are still too abounding Kansans after a job," he said.

County unemployment ante ranged from a low of 2.5 percent in Gray County in southwest Kansas to 13.1 percent in Linn County forth the Missouri accompaniment line.

A accompaniment action economist said there are signs that the clip of layoffs is slowing but no break yet that Kansas administration are starting to appoint workers.

"Further analysis of the unemployment abstracts for the accomplished bristles months suggests a stabilizing trend in the Kansas job market," economist Tyler Tenbrink said. "We'll be watching this action carefully over the abutting brace of months to see if this trend continues."

There were 33,075 antecedent claims for unemployment allowances in January, bottomward from 36,216 in December, but up from 29,094 in January 2009. The cardinal of Kansas association who connected to accept allowances was bottomward about 2,600 claims from December to 313,032 in January and up from 181,697 in January 2009.

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On the Net:

Kansas Department of Labor: http://www.dol.ks.gov

Governor's office: http://www.governor.ks.gov