This is an exciting time to live in Kansas City. Our area is experiencing a building boom of major proportions, creating a skyline of construction cranes from downtown to the Plaza to College Boulevard in Johnson County.

This renaissance of Kansas City is fueled by our "can do" spirit and the belief that people working together make a difference. Kansas City residents are committed to seeing our lovely city prosper while maintaining the high quality of life and "hometown" values that make this a wonderful place to live.

Many companies understand the benefits of the Kansas City area's cost of doing business and have their headquarters here. Some of the biggest include Sprint, AMC, Hoechst Marion Roussel Inc., Hallmark, United Telecommunications and Farmland Industries.

Since companies are calling the area home, they are in need of employees. Kansas City delivers. That's why unemployment has been below the national average for a number of years. Department of Labor statistics has the metro area with an unemployment rate of 4.2 percent for Sept 2000. The national average is 5.6 percent.

Combine the low unemployment with the continued demand for workers, and employees in Kansas City receive a higher "real income" than in other cities. To ensure that companies get the best employees, local as well as national companies offer competitive wage and benefits.