By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

It was a mixed bag for northwest Kansas, with employment falling -- slight as it might be -- in some counties.

Unemployment rates, however, still remained sharply higher than a year ago, according to estimates released late last week by the Kansas Department of Labor.

Mike Michaelis, director of the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development, hailed the news.

Ellis County's unemployment rate slipped slightly in August, down to 4.1 percent compared to 4.4 percent in July. The August 2008 rate, however, was 2.9 percent.

"Some manufacturers are staring to call people back," Michaelis said of the reason why Ellis County had a slight decrease in unemployment.

In August, the latest numbers available, 12 of 20 northwest Kansas counties had slight decreases in unemployment rates, while eight had slight increases.

Surprisingly, unemployment increased in Phillips, Smith and Rooks counties, three that have jobless rates higher than the regional average. But the primary job losses came through the closing of Schult Mobile Homes in Plainville and the closing of Brooke Corp. in Phillipsburg, which drew the bulk of its workers from Phillips and Smith counties.

In Ellis County, Michaelis said, the greatest effect on the unemployment drop came from Adronics/Elrob, which has called nearly a hundred employees back to work.

Adronics is back to work because of improvements in the auto industry, as well as a new contracts.

But other companies are hiring as well.

EnerSys, Michaelis said, has called a few people back to work.

"It's a small amount," he said of the callbacks, "but it's pretty widely spread."

On top of that, he points out, oil has been trading in the $70- to $80-barrel range of late.

"That has a big impact on Ellis County," Michaelis said.

That's because Ellis County is the leading oil producing county in the state, according to the Kansas Geological Survey.

Through May, Ellis County had produced 1.3 million barrels of oil, nearly 8 percent of the 16.3 million produced statewide.

"Oil prices are to the point that maybe people are going back to work," Michaelis said of increased oil exploration.

There are a few dark spots in the region, however.

Logan County saw unemployment climb from 3.8 perent in July to 4.5 percent in August. Rooks County also saw an increase, hitting 7.7 percent -- the region's highest -- compared to 7.3 in July.

"That doesn't make sense," Michaelis said of the climb in Rooks County's unemployment, because oil should have brought that down."

Rooks County also is one of the state's largest oil producing counties, as is Ness County.

Ness County, however, saw unemployment drop to 3.9 percent.

What the future holds is less certain, although Michaelis is hopeful the area will see "long, slow, steady growth" as some economists predict.

"It looks like if we can get through this and get this economy turned around, we should be in pretty good shape," Michaelis said.

* * *

August 2009 July 2009 August 2008

Cheyenne 3.9 4.1 3.5

Decatur 4.2 4.2 3.3

Ellis 4.1 4.4 2.9

Gove 3.8 3.3 2.8

Graham 4.9 5.1 3.6

Logan 4.5 3.8 2.5

Ness 3.9 4.6 3.2

Norton 5.3 5.3 3.3

Osborne 4.3 4.4 3.7

Phillips 6.5 5.9 3.5

Rawlins 4.1 4.7 3.3

Rooks 7.7 7.3 5.4

Rush 6.1 6.4 4.1

Russell 5.2 5.3 3.8

Sheridan 3.4 3.5 2.5

Sherman 4.2 4.5 2.9

Smith 4.9 4.2 4.7

Thomas 3.8 4.1 2.9

Trego 3.8 4.2 3.0

Wallace 6.6 6.3 4.8