Employers cut 8,300 jobs
ST. PAUL, MN – Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 4% in January, unchanged from the state’s revised jobless rate in December, according to seasonally adjusted figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The U.S. unemployment rate was 4.8% in January.
Minnesota employers eliminated 8,300 jobs in January. Over the past year, the state has gained 35,136 jobs, an increase of 1.2%. U.S. job growth over the past year was 1.5%.
“Trends point to solid growth in the state labor market and suggest that January’s figures may have been a temporary correction,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “Over the past year, 10 of the state’s 11 major industrial sectors have gained jobs.”
Leisure and hospitality led all sectors in January with 3,300 new jobs, followed by other services (up 1,500) and information (up 200). Logging and mining held steady.
The following sectors lost jobs: trade, transportation and utilities (down 4,100), professional and business services (down 3,200), government (down 2,700), manufacturing (down 1,600), construction (down 900), education and health services (down 700) and financial activities (down 100).
Over the past year, education and health services led all industries with 13,247 new jobs. Other sectors gaining jobs were government (up 4,413), trade, transportation and utilities (up 4,222), financial activities (up 3,591), construction (up 3,492), other services (up 3,171), professional and business services (up 2,710), information (up 1,176), logging and mining (up 662) and leisure and hospitality (up 263).
Manufacturing was the only industry that lost jobs in the past 12 months, down 1,811.
In the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the following regions gained jobs in the past 12 months: Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA (up 1.4%), Rochester MSA (up 0.8%), St. Cloud MSA (up 1.3%) and Duluth-Superior MSA (up 0.1%). The Mankato MSA lost jobs (down 0.3%).
DEED also announced revised job figures from the previous two years based on updated data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Those figures indicate Minnesota gained nearly 8,500 more jobs than originally reported from December 2014 to December 2015. The state, however, gained about 4,200 fewer jobs than originally reported between December 2015 and December 2016.
Those adjustments and other factors resulted in a revised unemployment rate of 4% in December 2016, rather than the 3.9% rate that was originally reported.
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.
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 https://mn.gov/deed/ or follow DEED on Twitter.