Minnesota jobless rate steady in June at 3.1 percent

Minnesota's unemployment rate in June held steady at a seasonally adjusted 3.1 percent as the state added 6,600 jobs, state officials said Thursday.

Minnesota has nearly 3 million jobs total now, the most in state history. Job gains in recent months have been strong, although the state's 12-month job growth lagged the nation, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development reported.

Minnesota gained 17,300 jobs over the past two months, the state's strongest growth spurt in more than a year, DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy said in a statement.

The state's 3.1 percent jobless rate in June remained significantly better than the 4 percent national rate.

State officials also noted that Minnesota's black unemployment rate fell from 6.1 percent in May to 5.6 percent in June, a low dating back to 2000. Minnesota's Hispanic unemployment rate increased from 4.4 percent in May to 5.3 percent in June. DEED, though, cautioned that those numbers were susceptible to measurement error due to small sample sizes.

Overall, leisure and hospitality added 13,728 jobs, the most of any sector over the past year. Manufacturing (up 8,661) and professional and business services (up 5,434) also gained job. Sectors losing jobs the past year include "other services" (down 1,399), financial activities (down 386) and logging and mining (down 88).

Correction (July 19, 2018): Minnesota has about 2.96 million jobs. An earlier version of this story underreported the total.