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Business and Economic News
Dana Ferguson

Minnesota unemployment ticked down in November amid job gain

A banner that says "Now Hiring"
In this file photo, a banner outside a post office in South St. Paul advertises open positions with the United States Postal Service on Aug. 8, 2022.
Andrew Krueger | MPR News 2022

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Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down to 3.1 percent for November, just under a 3.2 percent rate posted the month before.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development on Thursday also reported that Minnesota’s labor force participation rate shrunk slightly last month — even as the state added 9,500 jobs. 

DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek told reporters that the figures suggest that the economy is chugging along.

“This continued growth is great for Minnesota workers and the economy as a whole,” Varilek said. “And it’s worth noting that job growth only happens when there are workers to fill open jobs. So for each job added, another person is becoming employed.”

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for November remains lower than the national average, which was 3.7 percent. The state’s jobless rate has hovered around 3 percent for just over two years.

Most sectors reported job growth. Trade, transportation and utilities, education and health services, government and manufacturing saw the largest gains. Meanwhile, the financial activities sector saw a slight decline.

DEED leaders also expressed optimism about Minnesota’s future. They noted the U.S. Census Bureau data released this week showed that the state’s population grew by 24,000 between 2022 and 2023.

Labor Market Information Director Angelina Nguyễn said higher birth rates and increased international immigration to Minnesota drove the increase.

“So people in other countries are coming to Minnesota and migrational increase is usually of people in the working age range,” she said. “So this has good implications for Minnesota’s labor force long term.”

Varilek said new programs that cover costs of school lunches and tuition for college students beneath a family income cap and offer paid medical and caregiving leave could make Minnesota more competitive in the region.

“Folks in our neighborhood of the Upper Midwest haven’t done that,” he said. “It’s been done elsewhere successfully and around the world, but it hasn’t been done in our region. So we think those things are going to give us an advantage.”