3 Percent

MN's unemployment rate has been at or below 4 percent for four years straight

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to its lowest level since June 2000 – 3 percent. Our unemployment rate has been at or below 4 percent for four consecutive years. (The US unemployment rate in July was 3.9 percent.)

Employers added 11,200 jobs in July and 31,800 jobs over the past three months, the third-highest number of new jobs over a three-month span dating back to 1990.

Details:

• Monthly gains across the major sectors were widespread; only two sectors lost jobs. The largest job gains were in education & health care (up 2,900), government (up 2,400), trade, transportation & utilities (+2,200), manufacturing (+1,500), and professional & business services (+1,400). Smaller gains occurred in construction (+500), leisure & hospitality (+400), and information (+200). Small losses came in other services (down 200) and logging & mining (down 100). Financial activities was steady.

• Annual job growth by major industry sector looked much better in most areas due to July’s strong numbers.  Leisure & hospitality led all sectors both in terms of number of jobs added and employment growth rate – and set all-time highs dating back to 1991. The number of sectors shedding jobs over the year fell from 3 to 2 as logging & mining managed a slight 21 job increase, leaving financial activities and other services as the two remaining losers.  Construction and manufacturing also stand out, along with leisure & hospitality, as sectors with annual growth far in excess of the overall rate of 2.0%. The 9,441 additional manufacturing jobs is a new post-recessionary high for the industry.

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