Seasonally adjusted figures released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) revealed that Minnesota has lost more than a quarter of its job growth the past year, just in the last month.
With 12,500 jobs lost in October, the yearly gain in Minnesota has fallen to a net gain of 31,375 jobs for the year, according to a release from DEED. That makes Minnesota’s gain for the year around 1.1 percent, compared to a national growth rate of roughly 1.6 percent over the past year.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in Minnesota for October was 4 percent. This still beats out the national level of 4.9 percent.
“The number of jobs lost in October is certainly a disappointment,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “However, this is one snapshot in time. Overall, the state has still added more than 30,000 jobs this past year, and Minnesota’s unemployment rate remains steady.”
Five different sectors saw losses of more than 1,000 jobs in October. Leisure and hospitality was hit hardest at 3,900 jobs lost. Trade, transportation, and utilities lost 2,500, while professional and business services lost 2,400. Education and health services was down 2,200 jobs in October, and manufacturing lost 1,100 jobs.
Over the past year, however, most of these sectors hit hardest in October have been the strongest performers in Minnesota. Education and health services is the sector with the largest gains in the past year with over 11,000 jobs added. Professional and business services is also up on the year, at over 6,600 jobs gained, and trade, transportation, and utilities has gained over 5,500 jobs.
The only two sectors to gain jobs in October were the financial activities sector (1,100 jobs gained) and the government sector which added 200 jobs.
In the past year, manufacturing lost 1,335 jobs. Logging and mining has lost 989 jobs in the last year.
