By Bill Salisbury

St. Paul Pioneer Press

Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday night challenged Minnesota’s business leaders to do more to reduce the state’s racial disparities in jobs and income.

Speaking to more than 1,000 movers and shakers at the Minnesota Business Partnership’s annual dinner at the Minneapolis Convention Center, Dayton said that overall, Minnesota’s economy is doing well.

Minnesotans have among the nation’s highest per capita incomes, 222,000 new jobs have been added in five years, unemployment is low and state government is running budget surpluses.

“CNBC rated Minnesota the top state for business in 2015, causing a massive shift to Fox News by (Minnesota Business Partnership) members,” he joked.

But he said not all Minnesotans are sharing the prosperity. More than one-third of the state’s African-American residents live in poverty, and there are serious racial inequities in housing, health care and education.

In recent weeks, Black Lives Matters protesters have criticized the governor for failing to put racial justice on his front burner, and the governor has agreed to do more to address that issue.

“I pledged the state of Minnesota would do more to add diversity to our workforce at all levels,” he told the business leaders. “I fault myself for not starting this initiative sooner. I guarantee it will be a top priority from now on.