Minn. picks up 12K jobs in Jan.

Minnesota's employers added about 12,000 new jobs in January, which helped put the state's job market 90 percent of the way back to pre-recession levels.

The state's chief labor market analyst Steve Hine says revisions to the past two years of employment figures show job growth in Minnesota was stronger than initially reported.

"The last six months especially, you know, averaging 7,300 jobs a month," he said. "We do have a fairly significant head of steam, it appears, from these numbers."

The unemployment rate in January climbed slightly 5.6 percent in January, but that was due to more people entering the job market in search of work.

All 11 industrial sectors of the state's labor market logged employment gains over the year ending in January.