MN Unemployment Rate Lowest Since April 2001
Even though employers cut 5200 jobs last month, Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell a tenth of a point from November to 3.6 percent - the lowest monthly rate for the state since April 2001.
The December rate was a full point lower than in the same month a year earlier.
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says its November report was also revised to reduce the number of job gains by 4,000. DEED says this has resulted in a year-over-year gain of 33,400 jobs, for a growth rate of 1.2 percent.
Trade, transportation and utilities led all industrial sectors in December with 4,100 new jobs. Other sectors with gains were other services (up 400) and information (up 300). Logging and mining held steady.
Sectors that lost jobs were government (down 4,200), education and health services (down 1,500), manufacturing (down 1,400), financial activities (down 1,100), leisure and hospitality (down 900), professional and business services (down 600) and construction (down 300).
Over the past year, nine of 11 sectors have gained jobs: professional and business services (up 11,995), education and health services (up 8,910), manufacturing (up 7,589), leisure and hospitality (up 4,891), trade, transportation and utilities (up 1,329), logging and mining (up 648), other services (up 480), government (up 140) and construction (up 127).
Sectors that lost jobs over the past 12 months were financial activities (down 2,503) and information (down 206).
In the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the following regions gained jobs in the past 12 months: Mankato MSA (up 3.7 percent), Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA (up 1.8 percent), St. Cloud MSA (up 1.8 percent) and Rochester MSA (up 0.7 percent). Jobs in the Duluth-Superior MSA fell 0.7 percent during that period.
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