MN Jobless Rate Falls Below 4%

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has dipped below 4-percent for the first time since June 2006.

The State Department of Employment and Economic Development says the jobless rate slid 2-tenths of a point last month to 3.9-percent as Minnesota’s economy produced a net gain of about 9,500 jobs in October. The report shows the number of jobs in the state has risen by nearly 50,000 over the past year, while the unemployment rate has dropped by nearly a full point.

Over the past three months, the state has seen a net gain of 28,300 jobs.

Trade, transportation and utilities led all sectors with 5,200 new jobs in October, followed by education and health services (up 4,500), manufacturing (up 2,300), other services (up 1,200), construction (up 900), and logging and mining (up 100).

The following sectors lost jobs during the month: leisure and hospitality (down 2,100), professional and business services (down 1,300), government (down 700), financial activities (down 400) and information (down 200).

In the Metropolitan Statistical Areas, the following regions gained jobs in the past 12 months: Mankato MSA (up 2.7 percent), St. Cloud MSA (up 1.7 percent), Minneapolis-St. Paul MSA (up 1.7 percent) and Rochester MSA (up 0.9 percent). The Duluth-Superior MSA was unchanged.