Unemployment up, retail sales down in JoCo

Need a job? Don’t go west – go north to Nebraska, particularly Omaha.

According to comparison data recently released by the County Economic Research Institute, Nebraska’s unemployment rate in May was among the lowest in the nation. While the nation’s unemployment rate for May was 9.1 percent, Nebraska’s unemployment was at 4.4 percent with Omaha’s unemployment at 4.6 percent.

Johnson County’s economy, although not the best it has ever been, seems to be holding its own from April into May, according to CERI figures. While Kansas’ unemployment was at 6.9 percent in May, Johnson County’s unemployment was at 6.4 percent, an increase from April’s 5.8 percent.

The county’s previous unemployment high for May in the past five years was 5.1 percent in 2004. The previous low was 3.8 percent in 2007.

Consumer confidence in the county, after a two-month positive trend, fell from 65.4 in May to 63.6 in June, which coincided with the sharp rise in oil and gasoline prices. The previous June high was 127.4 in 2005 and the previous low in the same period was 87.6 in 2008.

There were 755 homes sold in Johnson County during May, about 170 more than April.

So far in 2009, there have been 2,555 homes sold in Johnson County.

There were 59 single-family building permits issued in May. By comparison, the smallest number for the same month in the previous five years was 73 in 2008.

There were no multi-family building permits issued in May and only 82 have been issued in 2009.

Retail sales in the county are down 7.2 percent in May from the same time last year. Only three communities experienced a positive impact: Roeland Park at .6 percent; Fairway at 3.3 percent; and Spring Hill at 5.8 percent.

Retail sales are down in Overland Park, 5.8 percent; Olathe, 10 percent; Lenexa, 3.3 percent; Shawnee, 8.1 percent; Leawood, 4.4 percent; Merriam, 23.2 percent; Mission, 4.6 percent; Prairie Village, 6.4 percent; Gardner, 7.5 percent; and De Soto, 12.4 percent.

In figuring the retail sales data, the figures represent estimates of the taxable retail sales occurring in the month.

The retail sales estimates for Johnson County’s 13 largest cities are calculated from the local sales and use tax reported by the Kansas Department of Revenue.

According to CERI, retail sales/use tax data provided by the Department of Revenue have been found to exhibit occasional random anomalies due to reporting and/or recording delays or errors.

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