State and National Employment and Unemployment

Unemployment

Minnesota’s unemployment rate ticked down one-tenth of one percentage point to at 3.0 percent in July on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The labor force participation rate also fell to 70.5 percent while the employment to population ratio remained steady at 68.4 percent.

The U.S. seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped one-tenth of one percentage point to 3.9 percent in July.

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Annual Employment

Minnesota added 59,900 jobs in July over the year, up 2.0 percent. The private sector added 54,900 of those jobs, up 2.2 percent over the year. Both rates of growth are the highest in four years in Minnesota and exceed U.S. over-the-year job growth.

U.S. employment rose 1.8 percent for all payroll jobs and 2.1 percent for private sector payroll jobs.

Only two sectors shed jobs over the year, with Financial Activities down 200 jobs or 0.1 percent and Other Services down 900 jobs or 0.8 percent.

All other sectors added jobs over the year. The largest job gains were in Leisure & Hospitality up 17,000 jobs or 5.9 percent, Education & Health Services up 10,800 or 2.1 percent, Manufacturing up 9,400 jobs or 2.9 percent, and Trade, Transportation & Utilities up 7,500 jobs or 1.4 percent.

Four sectors in Minnesota, Manufacturing, Professional & Business Services, Leisure & Hospitality and Government, lead the U.S. in annual job growth in July.

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Monthly Employment

Minnesota gained 11,200 jobs over the month in July on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 0.4 percent, with private employers adding 8,800 of those jobs. Upward revisions to May and June employment numbers mean that over the three months, May through July, Minnesota added 31,800 jobs. This is the third largest number of jobs added in a three-month period dating back to 1990, with the two others driven by workers returning after the 1998 Northwest strike and the 2011 state government shutdown. U.S. seasonally adjusted employment rose by 0.1 percent in July.

The only three sectors that did not add jobs in July were Mining & Logging, down by 100 jobs, Other Services, down by 200 jobs, and Financial Activities, which was flat.

Sectors adding the most jobs included Education & Health Services, up 2,900, Government, up 2,400, Trade, Transportation & Utilities, up 2,200, and Manufacturing, up 1,500 with job additions split between durable and nondurable goods manufacturing. This was Manufacturing’s seventh consecutive month of job gains.

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