Regional Economic Models, Inc., a provider of economic models used by federal and state agencies across the country, estimates that 35,000 of the up to 40,400 jobs it anticipates the state potentially losing would be from private workers.

If the tax cuts pushed by President George W. Bush are eliminated there could be less consumer spending, harming Kansas retailers, REMI projects. There also could be a big hit to health care because of lower Medicare reimbursement rates and budget cuts, and there could be other large-scale job losses for Kansas in professional service such as architecture and engineering that support capital investments and heavy manufacturing.

Scott Nystrom, associate economist with REMI, said the good news for Kansas and other Upper Midwest states is that they have more diversified economies, including agriculture. That makes them less vulnerable to changes in federal and consumer spending and more able to weather the fiscal cliff.