Unemployment rate flat; state adds jobs

Minnesota's unemployment rate stayed flat in July at 6.8 percent as the state gained 9,800 jobs during the month, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development reported Thursday.

DEED said the state has gained 40,900 jobs since the beginning of the year and has 29,100 more jobs than 12 months ago.

"While we still have a ways to go, Minnesota remains on a steady path to recovery," DEED Commissioner Dan McElroy said in a news release. "The private sector gained nearly 19,000 jobs in July, and the state has now recovered more than a quarter of the jobs that were lost in the recession."

McElroy planned to discuss the July numbers during a conference call Thursday morning.

The national unemployment rate for July was 9.5 percent, which was also unchanged from the previous month.

The biggest job gains in July happened in education and health care with 5,500 jobs. Professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, other services, manufacturing, trade, transportation and utilities, financial activities, construction, information and mining and logging all showed gains.

There were 9,100 jobs lost in the government sector, including 1,400 census workers, DEED said.