State and National Employment and Unemployment

Unemployment

Minnesota’s unemployment rate held steady for the fourth consecutive month at 2.8 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Minnesota’s labor force participation rate held steady at 69.8 percent. This is the lowest this measure has stood since 1982.

U.S. unemployment rose to 3.9 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis in December.

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Annual Employment

Minnesota added 31,441 jobs in December over the year, maintaining a 1.1 percent increase from last December. The private sector added 28,960 jobs, up 1.2 percent over the year.

U.S. employment rose 1.8 percent for all payroll jobs and 2.0 percent for private sector payroll jobs over the year in December.

Three sectors shed jobs over the year, with Education & Health Services down 4,662 or 0.9 percent, Other Services down 871 or 0.8 percent and Logging & Mining down 307 or 4.9 percent.

This is the second consecutive month of over-the-year job loss in Education & Health Services, after delivering job growth since 1991. In Health Services, weakness over last year is concentrated in Nursing and Residential Care facilities and Ambulatory Health Care Services while Hospitals added jobs. Within Educational Services, Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools lost jobs over the year while elementary and secondary schools saw some growth.

The other eight sectors added jobs over the year. The largest job gains were in Leisure & Hospitality, up 11,783 or 4.6 percent, followed by Construction, up 7,711 or 6.7 percent, Manufacturing, up 7,025 or 2.2 percent and Trade, Transportation & Utilities, up 4,901 or 0.9 percent.

Four sectors out-performed their national counterparts in terms of annual job growth: Construction, Information, Leisure & Hospitality and Government.

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Monthly Employment

Minnesota added 500 jobs over the month in December on a seasonally adjusted basis. Private sector employers added 600 jobs over the month.

Four sectors lost jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in December: Professional and Business Services, Financial Activities, Education & Health Services and Government.

The remaining seven sectors gained jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis, with Leisure & Hospitality adding 2,100 and Construction up 1,100 over the month.

U.S. employment ticked up 0.2 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis.

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