ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate continues to move lower, falling to 7.4% in August, according to numbers released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
The data is the latest released by the department.
Minnesota added a seasonally adjusted 40,500 payroll jobs in August, up 1.5% from July. The U.S. gained 1.371 million payroll jobs in August, up 1% from July. The national unemployment rate is at 8.4% for August.
“We are continuing to see steady job growth and a decline in unemployment in Minnesota, but it will take some time to replace jobs lost during the pandemic,” DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a news statement. “While job growth in Minnesota was stronger in August than in July, growth continues to be uneven across industries and occupations. People in lower income occupations continue to be most impacted by job loss.”
Minnesota unemployment has dropped steadily since reaching a high of 9.9% in May, according to the news release, which was the month with the highest pandemic-related unemployment. In June, Minnesota’s unemployment rate was 8.6% and in July it was 7.6%.
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Some groups of Minnesotans have been more affected by unemployment than others during the pandemic. Based on six month moving averages (March to August 2020 data), the unemployment rate for Black Minnesotans is 16.3% in August, up nearly 11 percentage points from 5.4% one year ago, in August 2019. For Hispanic Minnesotans, unemployment was 9.7% in August, up from 3.9% in August 2019. White Minnesotans have an unemployment rate of 6.7% in August, up from 3% one year ago.
You can view the full report here .
Over the month, seasonally adjusted gains in Minnesota were led by Government, up 11,000 jobs due to federal Census hiring and Local Government, followed by Leisure & Hospitality, up 7,800 jobs or 4.0% entirely in Accommodations & Food Services, Education & Health Services, up 7,100 jobs or 1.4% with gains in both component sectors, and Manufacturing, up 5,200 jobs or 1.7% with gains in both durable and nondurable goods.
