Minnesota’s unemployment rate ticked down two tenths of a percentage point to 2.7% in February, that’s the lowest unemployment rate in the state since 1999.
The decline in Minnesota’s unemployment rate was entirely due to people moving from unemployment to employment, as the state’s labor force participation rate rose from 67.6% to 67.9% in February.
Minnesota gained 5,200 jobs, up 0.2% in the last month on a seasonally adjusted basis following the addition of 4,800 jobs (revised down from 10,200) in January 2022. The private sector gained 5,100 jobs, up 0.2%.
This is the fifth straight month of job gains in Minnesota. The U.S. gained 678,000 jobs, up 0.5% from January to February 2022, with the private sector adding 654,000 jobs, also up 0.5% on a seasonally adjusted basis.
The national unemployment rate decreased to 3.8% from 4% in January and the U.S. Labor Force Participation Rate inched up one-tenth of a percentage point to 62.3%.