Creating and attracting new jobs to the Topeka/Shawnee County area is critical to maintain our quality of life and attract young professionals to our area.  Every day the staff at the Chamber and GO Topeka wake up and strive to improve the business climate by developing a quality of life that's attractive and helping companies grow jobs or bring jobs to our community.

While other communities stumbled during the recent downturn in the economy, Topeka and Shawnee County announed new projects involving 2,500 new jobs and $444 million in capital investments in 2009 and 2010.

Companies like The Home Depot and Target have established distribution centers; organizations like Security Benefit have added services and products for their clients and manufacturers like Frito-Lay, US Foods, Del Monte and Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company continue to add jobs and new product lines.  Bioscience endeavors throughout the region continue to expand for both humans and animals, led by Hill's Pet Nutrition, manfacturer of Science Diet pet products headquartered in downtown Topeka.  Two medical centers continue to grow and add jobs as their markets expand further into northeast Kansas.

With a diverse economy ranging from government to manufacturing, the Topeka MSA has not experienced high unemployment during the recent downturn in the economy, keeping an unemployment rate well below the national average.  In March 2011 the rate was 7.5%, up somewhat from March 2010 of 6.9%.

The job outlook is good in Topeka.  More jobs will come to the Topeka area in the near future as companies realize they can be both productive and profitable. 

For more information about economic development programs and job creation efforts visit GO Topeka Economic Partnership.