Minnesota posts 3.3 percent jobless rate in April
Published 8:48 am Friday, May 17, 2019
- Minnesota State Fair Executive Vice President Jerry Hammer hands out water bottles to the State Fair Job Fair attendants waiting for an interview in the Progress Center at the State Fair Grounds. Evan Frost | MPR News 2016
MPR News Staff
MPR News/90.1 FM
Minnesota saw a slight uptick in its seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in April, although the state gained 3,600 jobs, state officials said Thursday.
The jobless rate rose one-tenth of a percent from March, coming in at 3.3 percent, as the number of unemployed Minnesotan’s topped 100,000 for the first time since August 2017, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development reported. The U.S. unemployment rate was 3.6 percent.
“Despite our state’s tight labor market, the addition of 3,600 jobs this month is a sign that Minnesota employers are eager to ramp up for a busy spring and summer,” DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a statement.
Even with the April gain, the first four months of 2019 have only netted Minnesota 700 additional jobs, the agency said. Over the year, construction had the largest annual gains with an increase of 11,511 jobs since last April.
