KC is creating jobs like never before; here’s what’s behind the surge (hint: it’s small biz hiring)

The latest ‘We Create Jobs’ report highlights the continued economic impact of KC’s small businesses and tech startups

Kansas City startups created more than 19,700 jobs in 2022, yet again creating more jobs than in any of the previous five years. Additionally, as in 2021, Kansas City tech companies generated twice as many jobs in 2022 than in any year from 2018 to 2020.

These are just two of the core findings of the latest “We Create Jobs” report from KCSourceLink, which reports on the jobs created and wages paid by Kansas City’s new and young firms and tech startups.

Using the latest data, this year’s report reveals that across the metro area, first-time employers with fewer than 20 employees created 19,771 jobs in 2022. From 2018-22, these startups created an average of 17,089 new jobs each year. Considering both the employees whom startups hired as well as job losses, in 2018 and in each succeeding year through 2022, first-time employers in Kansas City were responsible for a total of 86,429 jobs created in 2022, accounting for 66 percent of all new jobs in the KC metro.

“By improving access to support and resources, our entrepreneurs are building stronger businesses and a stronger economy,” said Michael Carmona, network builder for KCSourceLink and senior director of regional ecosystem development at the UMKC Innovation Center. “The pandemic was a challenge for sure, but business owners, founders and champions of entrepreneurship saw that challenge and found new ways to move forward, supporting our communities toward recovery. This report highlights how powerful entrepreneurship can be and how it can embolden the pioneers who can pave the way to a brighter future.”

The latest data from “We Create Jobs” also shows that:

• The average wage for new jobs in the tech sector is 55 percent higher than the average wage of all new jobs.
• New tech sector startups created 1,767 jobs in 2022 and averaged 1,278 new jobs from 2018-22.
• There were 9,008 startups firms in the KC area in 2022, up from 8,197 in 2021.

“We Create Jobs” also includes a heat map that shows the location of startups in the nine-county region of the KC metro. The analysis shows startups are on both sides of the state line and in every county in the region.

The latest “We Create Jobs” report is available for download here. Updates include:

• job contributions by Kansas City startups through 2022
• survival rate of KC startups vs. national firms
• comparison of startup wages to the living wage
• job creation by KC startups and tech startups from 2018-2022
• number of KC startups by industry
• number of KC tech startups by segment
• average startup density by industry in Kansas City
• all KC startup average wage, KC tech startup wages, KC non-tech startup average wage, all establishments average wage, living wage and poverty wage

“We Create Jobs” quantifies the impact of new and young firms to the Kansas City area economy, and “Show Me Jobs” from KCSourceLink sister organization MOSourceLink tracks jobs across Missouri. Using data from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for Kansas City, KCSourceLink used a statistical analysis to calculate the number of jobs from first-time employers by looking at employers who paid for unemployment insurance for the first time. KCSourceLink further sorted that number to include only those employers with 20 or fewer employees.

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KCSourceLink, a program of the UMKC Innovation Center, is the connection to Kansas City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. With a network of 230+ business-building organizations in the 18-county Kansas City region, KCSourceLink helps aspiring and existing business owners find relevant resources. The mission is to help small businesses grow and prosper by providing easy access to needed services. KCSourceLink also highlights gaps in the entrepreneurial ecosystem and works with its partners to address those needs. Entrepreneurs and business owners can access the entire network at kcsourcelink.com.