Wichita, Kansas Wichita had the highest percentage decrease in employment levels of any major metropolitan area in the Great Plains during the past 12 months. Nonagricultural employment declined 2.6 percent to 280,000 jobs for the 12-month period between September 2001 and September 2002. There were declines in all economic sectors except trade, in which employment levels remained unchanged. The unemployment rate rose from 4 percent to nearly 6 percent during the period from September 2001 to September 2002. The largest job losses were in the manufacturing sector. The economy of Wichita is heavily dependent on the aircraft industry. With major layoffs at Boeing, Bombardier-Lear, and Raytheon, manufacturing jobs declined 9 percent between September 2001 and September 2002 to 67,000 jobs. Cessna Aircraft recently announced an initial loss of 400 manufacturing jobs and indicated that other losses will follow. Until now Cessna had been the only aircraft manufacturer in Wichita not to lay off workers during the area’s current economic downturn. Despite Wichita’s current economic conditions demand for new homes remains strong. In the first 9 months of 2002 permits were issued for 1,568 homes, a 12-percent increase. Existing homes sales remained steady with sales through September 2002 totaling 5,900 homes, almost identical to sales for the first 9 months of 2001. The average sales price for the first three quarters of 2002 rose approximately 3 percent to $100,500 compared with the same period in 2001. Multifamily building activity has been minimal in recent years. During the past 4 years a total of approximately 850 multifamily permits were issued for the metropolitan area. In 2002 through September permits were issued for 113 units, down slightly from the same period in 2001. The market has remained relatively soft with an overall rental vacancy rate of 8 percent in the metropolitan area. Despite the decline in production vacancies remain relatively high because of the decreased demand in a weaker local economy. The Cessna Aircraft training campus, a building block of the area’s plans for future economic development, became a recent casualty of weakness in the aircraft industry. Opened in 1997, the campus focused on training low-income residents—with an emphasis on the youth from Wichita’s economically depressed northeast corridor—to become aviation technicians. As part of the program the center guaranteed job placement in the aircraft industry; since its founding the training academy has placed 250 graduates. Cessna recently suspended the program indefinitely because of the current round of industry layoffs. Despite the partial dependence of Wichita on the aircraft industry its suburbs have done comparatively well for the past several years. There are significant bright spots even in downtown Wichita. One such spot is Wichita’s Eaton Place, which stands as a significant recent achievement in Wichita’s downtown residential and commercial redevelopment. Anchoring the Eaton Place development was the renovation of historic Carey Hotel, built at the turn of the century. By 1997 the hotel had fallen into disrepair, and the city initiated actions to redevelop both the hotel and the block on which it was located. The $15.6 million project involved the renovation of the hotel and two commercial buildings into 115 apartments, 89 at market rate and 26 as low-income housing tax credit units. In addition development included 30,000 square feet of commercial space. The project was completed on January 1, 2001, and the residential units have attained nearly 100-percent occupancy.

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