Photo: Star Tribune

From the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development • March 10, 2022

Minnesota gained 10,200 jobs in the last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to numbers released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). This follows the addition of 2,500 jobs in December 2021 (revised). The jobs growth from December 2021 to January 2022 is the largest single-month growth since July 2021. The private sector gained 9,100 jobs, up 0.4%, continuing a four-month-long job gains streak.

The unemployment rate ticked down in January 2022 to 2.9% from 3.0% in December 2021. The decline was entirely due to people moving from unemployment to employment. The labor force participation rate rose from 67.3% in December 2021 (revised) to 67.6% January 2022, up three-tenths of a percentage point. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.0% and the labor force participation rate also rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.2% (revised).

“Today’s job numbers show great momentum at a critical time in our economy,” said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. “And a jump in labor force participation shows that efforts to connect job seekers with great jobs are succeeding. We remain laser-focused on helping businesses and workers connect at a time of historically large workforce shortages across every industry.”

Every March, DEED also releases the revised employment numbers for the past several years. These revisions always result in shifts for some months of data for the unemployment rate, the labor force participation rate and the job count. Any time data has been revised from previous reports, you will see that marked by (revised). The revisions happen because of new population controls, new seasonal adjustment factors, and more comprehensive employment counts becoming available.

Over the month in Minnesota, two supersectors lost jobs, and nine gained jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis in January 2022. 

• Losses were in Construction down 1,400, and Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, down 500.
• Gains were in Mining and Logging up 100, Manufacturing up 1,600, Information up 600, Financial Activities up 1,200, Professional & Business Services up 3,600, Education and Health Services up 900, Leisure & Hospitality up 1,800, Other Services up 1,200 and Government up 1,100.

Over the year, Minnesota gained 74,111 payroll jobs, up 2.7%. The private sector gained 69,309 jobs, up 2.9% over the year. These gains put total nonfarm employment 122,181 jobs short of January 2020 employment and 96,760 jobs short in the private sector.

• Four supersectors posted negative annual growth, Construction down 75 jobs (0.1%), Trade, Transportation & Utilities down 3,185 jobs (0.6%), Financial Activities down 1,781 (0.9%) and Education & Health Services down 2,194 (0.4%).
• Two supersectors experienced huge over-the-year gains. Leisure & Hospitality gained 48,544 jobs (26.7%) and Other Services gained 8,915 jobs (8.9%). 

Four supersectors in Minnesota show strength over the year compared to the U.S.: Mining & Logging, Manufacturing, Leisure & Hospitality, and Other Services.

Minnesota lost 417,600 jobs from February through April 2020 (benchmarked) and has since gained 296,800 jobs as of January 2022, or 71% of the jobs lost on a seasonally adjusted basis. The private sector has regained 75% of the jobs lost.

Many Minnesotans continue to be out of work, but the employment impact of the pandemic on workers has been difficult to measure. The pandemic caused some people to drop out of the workforce, lowering labor force participation, which resulted in an unemployment rate below what would be expected given job losses. The table below accounts for this by showing an adjusted unemployment rate, based on 12-month moving averages, that includes both Minnesotans who are looking for work now and who would have been expected to be working or looking for work if it wasn’t for the impact of the pandemic. 

To read the original media release and see more Minnesota employment data, follow this link to the MN DEED website. https://mn.gov/deed/newscenter/press-releases/?id=521136