St. Paul – Minnesota continues to showcase its resilience in the job market with our labor force participation rate at 68% for the second month in a row– one of the highest in the country as reported by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).“The inflation rate has come a long way since it peaked in 2022. But lately, there has been little progress in getting inflation below 3%. For the past 12 months, the inflation rate has held steady between 3 and 4%. That’s still above the 2% target the Federal Reserve would like to see before cutting interest rates. Interest rates (i.e. the Federal Funds Rate) have remained steady at 5.5%. If you told anyone at the beginning of the year that the Federal Reserve still hadn’t cut interest rates, you would have expected the worst. And yet, the market continues to climb higher, and the economy is doing fine.” – Acorn investing.
May 2024 – Minnesota Unemployment Rate
Lost Jobs & Industries affected:
- -9,300 Business Services
- -3,700 Manufacturing
- -3,700 Goods Producing
- -100 Trade & Transportation
- -100 Mining
The U.S. unemployment rate increased by one tenth of a percentage reaching 4% last month. Similarly, Minnesota’s unemployment rate followed the same trend as the national unemployment rate increasing by one tenth of a percentage to 2.8%. Although Minnesota faced great job loss last month, our labor force participation rate remains stagnant at 68%.
*Data from US Bureau of Labor Statistics
May 2024 – Minnesota Open Jobs
Gained Jobs & Industries Affected:
- +2,800 Education & Health
- +1,200 Government
- +900 Lesiure & Hospitality
- +800 Recreational Activities
- +800 Financial Services
After several months of job growth, Minnesota employers pulled back last month with the state losing 8,600 jobs from April to May on a seasonally adjusted basis, a 0.3% decline. “We’ll be keeping a close eye on job and labor force growth. We continue to believe that job growth, particularly in certain sectors, is constrained by a lack of available workers with necessary skills,” said DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek.
*Data from MN Employment and Economic Development
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