Minnesota gains 10,700 jobs in March, largest gain in a year
Minnesota added 10,700 jobs in March, the largest monthly gain in a year, and the state's unemployment rate rose to 3.1%, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The state's unemployment rate was up 0.1 percentage point from last month, and compared with 4.2% nationally, DEED said. The rise in unemployment, even though state added jobs, can be attributed to more people entering the workforce. More than 2,700 Minnesotans joined the labor force last month, bring the labor force participation rate to 68.2%. This measures the percentage of Minnesotans either working or actively seeking work, and is used to calculate the headline unemployment rate.
Minnesota's overall job growth last month rose 0.4%, four times faster than the national rate of 0.1%; Minnesota's private sector grew twice as fast as the U.S. overall.
'Minnesota's job market has shown impressive resilience in the face of unprecedented uncertainty from the federal government,' DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek said in a statement. 'This month we added jobs at a much faster rate than the nation as a whole as employers continue hiring, and more Minnesotans joined the labor force to look for work.'
Eight of 11 state employment supersectors gained jobs in March, with particularly strong growth in construction, up 1,900 jobs, or 1.4%. Government employment was up 1,500 over the month in March, with all growth coming from local and state governments. Federal employment was steady. Recent federal mass layoff announcements are not yet reflected in this data because these estimates are based on employers' reporting of payroll jobs.
Minnesota has gained 37,581 jobs over the past year, faster than the national rate of growth. The private sector gained 29,579 jobs — in line with the national average.
'Minnesota has a diverse economy, allowing us to weather shifts in broader macroeconomic trends,' said Angelina Nguyen, director of DEED's Labor Market Information Office.
Of alternative measures of unemployment, the broadest, called the U-6, increased to 6.9% in March, up from 6.6% in February and 5.4% a year ago, DEED said. This measure factors in people who have voluntarily left the labor force, such as stay-at-home parents, discouraged workers who have stopped seeking jobs, and part-time or otherwise marginally employed workers.
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