Minnesota Adds 800 Jobs In December

(KNSI) – The state saw its sixth straight month of job growth in December, according to a release by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Eight hundred people got hired in the month, consisting of 2,500 jobs in the private sector, which more than offset a loss of 1,700 government positions. The good news extended to the unemployment rate, which dropped by two-tenths of a percent. While the national rate is at 3.7%, Minnesota remains significantly below that, down to 2.9%.

The labor force participation rate, how many working-age adults have a job or are actively looking for one as a percentage of the overall population, is 68.1% in Minnesota. That’s above the national average of 62.5%.

DEED highlighted construction, which added 1,200 jobs in December. Employment in the sector is up 8.8% over the past year, more than double the national rate. Labor Market Information Director Angelina Nguyễn says, “The strongest growth in Minnesota continues to be in Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction, which is up an impressive 33.1% over the year. Part of this growth is due to robust infrastructure investment from the federal and state government, part of it is due to warmer weather this winter.”

Jobs figures won’t be released again until March 7th, when they make annual revisions. The agency has not indicated whether those updates will be positive or negative, but the national unemployment numbers have been adjusted downward for 10 of the past 11 months.

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