Minn. jobless rate ticks up to 3.9 percent in July; 11K jobs added

Minnesota's jobless rate rose slightly to a seasonally adjusted 3.9 percent in July, although employers added 11,300 jobs during the month, state economic officials said Thursday.

The unemployment rate had held steady at 3.8 percent for several months before the July uptick. It's still significantly better than the 4.9 percent United States jobless rate.

Job growth in the U.S. as a whole, however, continues to outpace Minnesota. Jobs have grown nationally at a 1.7 percent rate over the past 12 months, compared to 1.5 percent in Minnesota.

"Last month's job gains pushed seasonally adjusted employment in Minnesota above the 2.9 million mark for the first time in state history," DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy said in a statement. "The state has gained 21,000 jobs in the past two months alone, a strong indication that the economy is continuing to grow."

Job gains by sector over the past year include education and health services (up 20,486), leisure and hospitality (up 10,999), trade, transportation and utilities (up 6,549), construction (up 6,050), financial activities (up 1,836), professional and business services (up 1,014) and manufacturing (up 559), the department reported.

Four industries lost jobs in the past 12 months: logging and mining (down 1,580), information (down 1,525), government (down 185) and other services (down 169).