Minnesota jobless rate reaches highest level in nearly four years
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Minnesota’s unemployment rate is the highest it’s been in nearly four years.
New figures from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, released Thursday, show the seasonally adjusted rate ticked up to 3.5 percent in July. That’s up from 3.3 percent the month before.
State records show the last time the seasonally adjusted rate reached 3.5 percent was in August 2021.
“We may now be seeing results of mass federal layoffs and funding interruptions, erratic tariffs and shrinking immigration,” DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek said in a news release. “Even so, some of the favorable qualities about Minnesota’s labor market remained consistent in July, with low unemployment, significant wage growth and high labor force participation.”
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The latest report from the state shows about 109,000 people listed as unemployed, with the labor force participation rate inching down to 68.1 percent.
The state shed a net 4,400 jobs in July, according to the data.
DEED reported that two labor supersectors — education and health services, and construction — added jobs last month.
Eight supersectors lost jobs, including a drop of 3,500 government jobs, or 1.2 percent.
Minnesota’s unemployment rate remains lower than the national rate of 4.2 percent. The national labor force participation rate is 62.2 percent.
In discussing the figures with reporters Thursday, Varilek addressed concerns over the accuracy of future jobs data. President Donald Trump fired the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner this month over revisions to data that showed a weakening employment picture. Trump has appointed a political ally to the post.
“It is very consequential for Minnesota and for the country that the nonpartisan staff, who are just trying to get the numbers right now, have to worry whether they will get in trouble or potentially even lose their jobs for producing accurate numbers that are not to the liking of leadership,” Varilek said.
Minnesota's Labor Market Information director Angelina Nguyen said monthly revisions to previously released data are normal.
“Whatever survey results we get by the dates where we have to analyze that and release, then we go with that. And that will be the preliminary estimates that is released every month,” she said. “Then the surveys are still going and we're still collecting data. So then give it another month, and you have more incoming survey data. And so it gives you a more complete picture of the situation.”
At an event in St. Cloud on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer predicted the economy would take off after passage of federal tax and spending legislation. He said the measure that Trump labeled the Big Beautiful Bill would boost domestic manufacturing. Emmer, the third-ranking Republican in the House, refuted estimates from the Congressional Budget Office that the measure would deepen a federal deficit in the process.
“We’re going to go based on history in which the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created the greatest economy we have seen in this country in decades,” Emmer said while touring an area bus factory with a top Federal Transit Administration official. “And this one is doing the same thing. You watch what happens over the next six to 12 months, and the CBO will once again be proven wrong.”
MPR News politics reporter Dana Ferguson contributed to this story.
