A Pause in the Hot Streak

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.9 percent in August, a number not seen since December 1999. The state’s record-low unemployment rate was a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in both January and February 1999. (The US unemployment rate in August was 3.9 percent.) 

Minnesota employers eliminated 200 jobs after three consecutive months of growth. Over the past year, the state has added 50,904 jobs, a 1.7 percent growth rate. US jobs are up 1.8 percent in the past year.

Details:

• Monthly employment changes across the major sectors of Minnesota’s economy were fairly small, with job losers outnumbering gainers seven to three and logging and mining holding steady. Gains occurred in construction (+1,700); government (+1,000); and leisure and hospitality (+400). Sectors that lost jobs included education & health care (-1,000); manufacturing (-900); and trade-transportation & utilities (-600). Information, financial activities, professional & business services, and other services each lost 200 jobs.

• Annual job growth overall again slipped below the corresponding national rate by a tenth point, but six of the eleven major sectors matched or exceeded their national counterparts. Construction led the sectors in annual growth rate at 5.1 percent, followed by leisure & hospitality at 4.1 percent, which added the most jobs at 11,802. 

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