Minnesota Adds 17,100 Jobs in September
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove has often said that the state’s jobs recovery has been bumpy throughout 2021.
But Thursday brought news of a healthy bump in new jobs. DEED’s latest numbers report that Minnesota added 17,100 jobs during September. The state’s unemployment rate is now down to 3.7 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis. There were no notable revisions to the August jobs report. The private sector gained 17,700 jobs for the month, offset by a small loss in the number of government jobs.
“September was a strong month for us,” said Grove in a virtual press conference to discuss the latest employment numbers. “The job growth was across a whole host of industries.”
Notable sectors adding jobs in September included:
| Sector | Jobs gained |
| Leisure & Hospitality | +9,800 |
| Trade, Transportation, & Utilities | +2,600 |
| Professional & Business Services | +2,400 |
| Construction | +2,300 |
| Education & Health Services | +1,900 |
At the same time, wage growth continues. DEED’s statistics show that wages have climbed 7.4 percent since September 2019.
“We continue to see wages go up,” said Grove. “Employers are paying more money because they need to in a tight labor market.”
Grove touted news that the state has now seen 70 percent of the jobs lost in the pandemic return. From February to April 2020, Minnesota lost 416,300 jobs. Since then, the state has added 289,700 jobs. To be more precise, the numbers show that the state has seen 69.6 percent of those job losses return.
But on the flip side, those numbers mean that 126,600 jobs have not come back yet.
Does DEED have a projection on when those jobs will return? Grove said that it might take another 15 months.
“It’s so dependent on the pandemic,” said Grove. “Our goal is the end of next year [2022] to get those jobs back.”
