Minnesota gained 7,000 jobs from September to October, outpacing national job growth, according to numbers released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Minnesota reached its highest number of jobs on record at 3,001,300 in Octob er, the first month when the seasonally adjusted jobs estimate surpassed 3 million.
Over the month job growth was led by big gains in the Education & Health Services, Professional & Business Services and Leisure & Hospitality sectors. Minnesota has added jobs nine out of the last 12 months.
The state’s unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percent to 3.2% in October, lower than the national rate of 3.9%.
Minnesota’s labor force was essentially flat, dipping by 84, the first monthly decline in eight months. Minnesota’s labor force participation rate held steady for the fourth month at 68.5%, nearly six percentage points higher than the national rate, which decreased one tenth of a percentage point to 62.7%. There continues to be many employment opportunities in Minnesota: as of August, there were 200,000 job openings in the state, according to National Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey data.