The Kentucky Center for Statistics says the state’s Kentucky’s reported unemployment rate last month has kept stable at 5%. That’s about the same as both last month and around a year ago.
Mike Clark is the Director of the University of Kentucky’s Center for Business and Economic Research. He says the state is seeing both more people employed and more people actively looking for jobs, though growth is slowing.
“We have seen slower employment growth than what we saw during the first five months of 2024. But we are still continuing to add jobs,” he said.
The center reports that Kentucky is seeing both more people employed and more people actively looking for jobs, though growth is slowing since the years directly after the COVID-19 lockdown.
It reports Kentucky’s labor force was 2,119,740 in May, an increase of 1,275 from the month prior. The number of people employed rose by 4,321 to 2,013,428, and the number of unemployed shrank by 3,046 to 106,312.
Clark says one reason for that steady growth is the state’s manufacturing sector.
“Manufacturing employment actually declined from March to April, but had bounced back significantly in May, so that was one of the big drivers of the May numbers being positive,” Clark said.
Clark says education and healthcare jobs are also seeing steady growth, and construction employment has also grown through the first half of this year.
