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While Minnesota added 5,900 new jobs last month, the unemployment rate marginally increased to 3.6 percent — the highest it’s been in more than four years, according to new data from the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Still, the state’s unemployment rate remains below the national rate of 4.3 percent. And DEED officials said Minnesota has showed resilience in the face of worsening national trends. 

“Minnesota’s labor market had a strong month in August, adding thousands of jobs and people looking for work,” commissioner Matt Varilek said. “We continue to monitor our economy for signs that federal disruptions are affecting Minnesota employers. But in August, we outpaced national trends.”   

Varilek said Minnesota’s diverse economy has allowed the state’s outlook to remain decent at this time. 

Several sectors saw growth, including 1,900 more construction jobs and 4,300 more education and health services jobs. 

The labor force increased by more than 1,000 people and the participation rate stayed at 68.1 percent, which is almost 6 percentage points higher than the national average. 

On the flipside, the state saw job losses in the government and manufacturing sectors. 

Government employers lost 2,400 jobs last month. While over the year, federal employment has fallen by 3.2 percent in Minnesota, with more than 1,000 jobs lost, the state has seen an increase in government jobs overall. 

Manufacturing lost 900 jobs in August, down 0.3 percent, the third consecutive month of job losses in that sector. 

DEED labor market information director Angelina Nguyễn said monthly data is regularly revised as more survey data comes in and should be taken “with a grain of salt.” The revision for July’s data showed that the state lost 500 jobs, not the 4,400 initially reported.

“Don’t let one month define the whole picture,” Nguyễn said. “We want to wait to see trends, so like three-months worth of trends, or years-worth of trends. And trust the trends more than just any single data point.”

The state has gained more than 39,000 jobs over the year, an increase of 1.3 percent that outpaces the national growth of 0.8 percent, according to DEED.

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While Minnesota added 5,900 new jobs last month, the unemployment rate marginally increased to 3.6 percent — the highest it’s been in more than four years.

Minnesota adds nearly 6,000 jobs but unemployment increases

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