Unemployment rate steady at 4%
ST. PAUL – Minnesota employers added 1,900 jobs in September, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
Those numbers, combined with figures from August that were revised from 1,500 jobs lost to 500 jobs gained, brought total job growth in Minnesota to 40,899 in the past year. State jobs are up 1.4% from the same month a year ago. The U.S. rate of job growth was 1.7% over the past year.
The state unemployment rate held steady in September at a seasonally adjusted 4%. The U.S. unemployment rate was 5% in September.
“September marks seven years since employment levels in Minnesota bottomed out during the recession,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “Since then, the state has added 278,000 jobs.”
Professional and business services led all sectors in September with a record monthly gain of 10,500 new jobs. Other sectors adding jobs were government (up 1,600), manufacturing (up 700), information (up 300), logging and mining (up 100), and other services (up 100).
The following industries lost jobs in September: education and health services (down 3,800), leisure and hospitality (down 3,700), trade, transportation and utilities (down 2,900), construction (down 600) and financial activities (down 400).
Over the past year, educational and health services led all sectors with 14,129 new jobs. Other sectors gaining jobs in the past 12 months were professional and business services (up 10,701), construction (up 6,280), leisure and hospitality (up 3,616), government (up 2,760), financial activities (up 2,611), trade, transportation and utilities (up 1,766), and other services (up 1,500).
The following sectors lost jobs in the past year: information (down 977), logging and mining (down 950), and manufacturing (down 537).
In the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the following regions gained jobs in the past 12 months: Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA (up 2%), Rochester MSA (up 3.7%) and St. Cloud MSA (up 2.8%). The Duluth-Superior MSA was unchanged, while the Mankato MSA was down 0.2%.
DEED has added a section to its website that examines the unemployment rate by demographics (race, age and gender) and looks at alternative measures of unemployment. mn.gov/deed/data/current-econ-highlights/alternative-unemployment.jsp
DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit the DEED website mn.gov/deed follow DEED on Twitter.