In a typical year, “first-time” employers create nearly 16,400 jobs in the Kansas City region, KCSourceLink’s latest “We Create Jobs” report found.

These companies were responsible for 16,325 new jobs last year in the nine-county area. The five-year average is 16,376.

That’s according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW).

Tech companies accounted for 1,249 of last year’s “first-time” hires. The five-year average for that subgroup is 1,057.

Kansas City’s record is good news when you compare it to the national trend of declining dynamism among younger companies.

“The Kansas City QCEW data does not show the same decline. It shows that, at least since 2012, Kansas City continues to receive significant job contributions from new firms and sees a regular rate of firm startups,” the “We Create Jobs” authors wrote.

The report defines “first-time” as firms that are hiring their first employee as measured by compliance with unemployment insurance laws. This could include businesses that have been in operation for a while, but hadn’t previously hired an employee. Researchers also were careful not to count large companies moving into the area – it only looked at those with fewer than 20 people.

Researchers found that first-time employers tend to pay a little less per year (about $41,000) than the region’s average (just under $44,000) though they pass the average after the third year. “First-time” tech employers are an exception: They start out paying just under $80,000.

You can find the full “We Create Jobs” report at this website. It’s the latest in a series of “We Create” reports that KCSourceLink produces on entrepreneurs’ impact on Kansas City.