Rochester Area Jobless Rate Only 2% in May

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News) - The unemployment rate in the Rochester area last month was the lowest reported for the month of May in almost two-decades. The latest jobs report from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows the jobless rate for Olmsted County was only 2-percent. You have to go back to 1999 to find a lower rate for May when it fell to only 1.7-percent. The rate last month was also down a half-point from April and was eight-tenths of a point below the unemployment rate reported last May.

Houston County was tied with Olmsted County for having the lowest unemployment rate in southeastern Minnesota last month, while the highest rate was only 2.6-percent and was found in Freeborn County. All of the counties in the region reported either steady or lower jobless rates in May. The biggest drop was in Fillmore County, where the rate fell 1.3-percentage points to just 2.3-percent.

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