jobs

The Wichita Community Foundation has created a $1 million fund to help the city deal with workforce issues.

The Talent Ecosystem Fund is meant to attack challenges identified by the Focus Forward project, according to a news release. Among those challenges is attracting a talented workforce to Wichita.

The latest employment forecast from Wichita State University predicts continued slow job growth in the Wichita area for 2018.

The Center for Economic Development and Business Research (CEDBR) updated its fall 2017 forecast on Wednesday. It expects Wichita employment to increase by about 1,200 jobs this year, a growth rate of 0.4 percent. That’s similar to the initial forecast released in October.

Kansas saw a bump in job growth last month.

The Kansas Department of Labor says the state gained 2,000 private sector jobs from March to April. Compared to April of last year, Kansas had nearly 18,000 more jobs in the private sector.

Emilie Doerksen, with the Department of Labor, says there have been jumps in job categories such as business services, transportation and warehousing.

“This is actually the first month that we’ve had significant over-the-year gains in the private sector in over a year,” Doerksen says.

Gov. Jeff Colyer signed an executive order Wednesday supporting the "Ban the Box" initiative.

The new order requires state agencies to remove a checkbox from their job applications that asks whether someone has a criminal record.

The state’s unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent in December, according to the latest figures from the Kansas Department of Labor and Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That’s down slightly from November and down from 4.3 percent in December 2016.

“Employers continue to demand valuable Kansas labor as jobs, hours worked, and real earnings increased over the year,” state Labor Secretary Lana Gordon said in a statement.

Private sector jobs increased by more than 5,200 in December, the majority of them in the leisure and hospitality industry.

Kansas' former education commissioner is hoping to bridge the divide between how schools teach and what businesses need from their workers.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports that Diane DeBacker was appointed late last year to the new executive director of business and education innovation position at the Kansas Department of Commerce. Her job is meant to bring education voices into the department.

Kansas has more people working than ever before, the Kansas Department of Labor said Friday.

There are more than 1.4 million people employed in Kansas, according to data from November. The state has gained nearly 3,000 jobs in the last 12 months, mostly from construction, and professional and business services.

The unemployment rate for Kansas was 3.5 percent in November. That is down slightly from October and down from 4.3 percent in November 2016.

The unemployment rate for the Wichita area and Sedgwick County was 3.7 percent.

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The U.S. Forest Service is hiring for seasonal and temporary openings in Kansas and four other states.

More than 900 jobs are available next year at national forests and grasslands.

The jobs include a variety of duties including firefighting, wildlife management, timber, recreation, trails, archeology, hydrology, botany, range, fisheries, forestry and administrative support. Firefighting work includes engine, helitack, hotshot, fuels, handcrew, prevention, airtanker base, and dispatch activities.