Minn. unemployment holds steady: 5.3 pct.

Minnesota's employers added 8,400 jobs in May, and the state's jobless rate held steady at 5.3 percent. And the tally for April improved a bit.

Revised numbers released by the state's Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) show April's employment decline was 10,200 jobs, down 1,200 from the originally reported drop of 11,400 jobs.

Minnesota has now gained just over 93 percent of the jobs lost during the recession. Total non-farm employment in the state is 10,700 jobs short of the last peak in early 2008, within the first few months of the Great Recession.

Minnesota has added 43,300 jobs since May of 2012, a 1.6 percent growth rate that matches U.S. job growth over the year.

"Last month's figures add to the mounting evidence of a broad-based economic recovery in Minnesota," said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. "Every major industrial sector has added jobs in the past 12 months, and the state's unemployment rate remains at a five-year low."

Leisure and hospitality gained 2,900 jobs last month, followed by government (+ 2,800), professional and business services (+ 2,000), education and health services (+ 1,800), other services (+ 1,100), construction (+ 1,000), manufacturing (+ 100) and financial activities (+ 100).

Three sectors lost jobs: trade, transportation and utilities (- 2,600), information (- 700), and mining and logging (- 100).

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