Jobless rate up in October

Minnesota's unemployment rate climbed a bit last month after a couple of months of declines.

At the same time that the state reported a 0.2 percent jobless increase, Minnesota employers added 2,200 jobs in October, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development reported.

With the news, the state's jobless rate is at 7.6 percent, compared to the 10.2 percent national rate.

"A gain in jobs combined with an uptick in the unemployment rate are consistent with what economists often expect at the turning point of a recession," Economic Development Commissioner Dan McElroy said. "October's job growth in six of the industry sectors is a positive sign, and the widening gap between the state's and nation's unemployment rates is also noteworthy."

The report showed that professional and business services gained the most jobs last month, in a large part due to increase temporary services employment.

Job losses continued in trades, transportation, utilities, manufacturing and construction.

In the past year, manufacturing has shed 41,300 jobs, the worst hit sector during the recession.

Posted by: Don Davis on 11/19/2009 at 10:54 AM | Permalink

Tags: economy, unemployment