Minnesota's unemployment rate remained steady in February as employers added 1,300 jobs during the month, according to figures released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

The 6.7 percent jobless rate in February matched January's rate-which was the lowest rate since December 2008. DEED also revised the number of jobs that were added in January to 2,900, up from the 900 that was originally reported.

The state's unemployment rate remains well below the national rate of 8.9 percent.

Over the past year, Minnesota has gained about 19,600 jobs, equating to a growth rate of 0.8 percent. The national growth rate during that same period was 1 percent.

“While the recovery is progressing, we're still seeing mixed results in the labor market,” DEED Commissioner Mark Phillips said in a statement. “Manufacturing, in particular, has been a bright spot, adding another 2,400 jobs in February.”

In addition to manufacturing, other job gains during the month were in professional and business services (up 1,200), construction (up 1,000), other services (up 800), government (up 100), and logging and mining (up 100).

Job losses during the month occurred in education and health services (down 2,900), financial activities (down 600), leisure and hospitality (down 400), trade, transportation, and utilities (down 200), and information (down 200).

All of the state's metro areas reported job increases over the past year: St. Cloud is up 2.4 percent, Mankato is up 1 percent, Duluth-Superior is up 0.5 percent, Rochester is up 0.7 percent, and Minneapolis-St. Paul is up 0.6 percent.