ST. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - Job growth in Minnesota slowed last month. The latest jobs report from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development shows the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose a tenth of a point to 3.8-percent in August. A year ago, Minnesota’s jobless rate was 4-percent.

The slight increase was mainly due to a net loss of about 6,600 jobs in August. Officials also revised the job gains for July downward by about 5,100 jobs, which puts the number of jobs gained by Minnesota for the past year at just 49,700. That works out to a job growth rate of 1.7-percent, which remained above the national average of 1.5-percent.

“The state’s labor market remains fundamentally strong, outpacing the country in over-the-year job growth for the fourth consecutive month in August,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “Nine of our 11 major industrial sectors have added jobs in the past 12 months.”

The biggest job gains last month were in trade, transportation and utilities, which was overshadowed by sizeable cuts in the leisure and hospitality, education, and health services sectors.

During the past 12 months, only about 5,000 of the nearly 50,000 jobs added in Minnesota were created outside of the Twin Cities area, where the job growth rate was 2.3-percent. The growth rate in the Rochester area was a full point lower with a net gain of about 1400 jobs since August of last year.

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