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Bill Catlin
ST. PAUL, Minn.

Minn. jobless rate holds steady at 5.2%

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Minnesota's employers added a net 4,300 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate held steady at 5.2 percent.

But the latest report from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development is mixed.

June's employment gains were revised from an increase of 400 jobs to a loss of 1,000 jobs.

And the employment rate held steady because fewer people were looking for work. The survey of households used to calculate the jobless rate also indicates about 1,000 fewer people were paid for work during July.

Still, Minnesota has gained 71,500 jobs over the past year, a growth rate of 2.6 percent, compared with a U.S. growth rate of 1.7 percent. And Minnesota's jobless rate remains well below the U.S. jobless rate of 7.4 percent.

"On an annual basis, the Minnesota labor market is recovering at a pace we haven't seen since the expansion of the 1990s," said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. "We're edging closer to pre-recessionary employment levels, needing to add just 5,500 jobs to regain all the jobs that were lost in the recession."

Government led all sectors in July with a gain of 4,000 jobs, followed by financial activities (+2,300), leisure and hospitality (+1,400), other services (+1,300), information (+1,100), and professional and business services (+100). Logging and mining held steady.

The industries reporting job losses include education and health care (-2,600), construction (-1,700), manufacturing (-1,400), and trade, transportation and utilities (-200).

The relatively high-paying manufacturing sector, which posted strong gains out of the recession, has been on a downward trend since the start of the year.

Public schools drove much of the strong growth seen in the government sector, said Oriane Casale, assistant director of the state's labor market information office.

"Definitely one of the things going on here seems to be additional funding for hiring at the local government level and specifically in school districts," Casale said.

Earlier this year state lawmakers boosted funding for K-12 and early childhood education by nearly $500 million over the current two-year budget cycle, which started last month.

MPR News reporter Annie Baxter contributed to this story