Minnesota gained 14,100 jobs in January and the state unemployment rate remained at 2.9 percent, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development reported Thursday.
December job growth rose 0.5 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis, with the private sector gaining 12,000 jobs, also up 0.5 percent. The revised labor force participation rate remained at 68.1%; this measures the share of the population that is working or actively looking for work. January’s gains contrast with December, when the state reported a loss of about 5,200 jobs.
The state data compares to a national unemployment rate of 3.4 percent and a revised labor force participation rate of 62.4 percent over the same period. The US reported a gain of 517,000 jobs from December to January.
“Our tight labor market continues to provide excellent opportunities for job seekers and challenges for many employers,” Acting DEED Commissioner Kevin McKinnon said in a news release. “DEED will continue to reach out to Minnesotans who remain on the edge of employment and use our programs and services to get more people into the workforce.”
In conducting standard revisions of previous years’ employment data that DEED does each March, DEED reported that the June 2022 rate was revised upward from 1.8%; Minnesota’s lowest unemployment rate in 2022 was 2.3 percent in April.
Among alternative measures of unemployment, the broadest measure, called the U-6, was 4.7 percent for January. This takes into account the unemployed and those looking for work, those who have left the labor force and those who are underemployed or marginally attached to work.
