Minnesota September job growth higher than U.S. average

(The Center Square) – In September, Minnesota saw a half percentage more growth in jobs compared with the national average, the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development reported Thursday.

“September was a strong month for us in this journey recovering from COVID,” DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a news conference Thursday.

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted increase was 17,100 or 0.6%, according to a department news release. Seasonally adjusted, leisure and hospitality gained the most jobs (9,800), followed by trade, transportation and utilities (2,600 jobs) and professional and business services (2,400 jobs). Construction was 2,300 jobs. Educational & health services, information, and mining and logging also gained jobs.

Grove said that they had hoped to see the growth in employment as students returned to school.

“It’s probably too early to tell if that’s the beginning of a trend or not, but we certainly hope that it is, and we’ll be tracking this data very closely in the coming months,” Grove said.

There were decreases too, however.

Financial activities lost 900 jobs, which were in both finance and insurance as well as real estate and rental/leasing, the department said. State government lost 600 jobs. Manufacturing (durable goods) was down 400 jobs and jobs in the Other Services category was down 200 jobs.

Grove said the government jobs decreases probably relates to year-over-year decreases in enrollment at Minnesota state colleges and universities.

Nationally, job net gains were 194,000, or 0.1%, with 317,000 job additions (up 0.3%). Across the country, the unemployment rate fell four-tenths of a percentage point to 4.8% and the labor force participation rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point, to 61.6%.

Average hourly pay in Minnesota’s private sector rose 25 cents to $32.97 from August to September. Earnings have risen 3.7% ($1.17) since September 2020 and 7.4% since September 2019. That compares with 2.9% average annual percent change between September 2007 and September 2021. Nationally, private sector wages rose 4.7% since September 2020 and 8.9% since September 2019.

“Usually, we’re just barely keeping up with inflation, if that, in the wage rates, and we’ve seen wage rates really skyrocket in Minnesota this year, and I think that’s a testament to the fact that employers are paying more money because they need to in a tight labor market,” he said.

The state’s unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point, to 3.7% in September “due to people moving out of unemployment and into employment.” Its labor force participation rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point, to 67.9%. The Gopher State had lost 416,300 jobs from February through April 2020 and has gained 289,700 jobs (70% of jobs lost) on a seasonally adjusted basis. Private sector job recovery is 72%.

Leisure and hospitality, construction, professional & business services, and manufacturing have each experienced more positive employment changes, seasonally adjusted, compared with the U.S. average. Information and financial activities are the only supersectors that have decreased since September 2019, by 4.8% and 1.1%, respectively.

Minnesota and U.S. Employment and Unemployment – September 2021