Business & Tech

Hennepin County's Jobless Rate Was 6.9 Percent in July

The state rate was 'distorted' by the government shutdown.

About 2,900 more Hennepin County residents were working in July than were in June.

The county's unemployment rate was 6.9 percent last month, the latest figure available, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). That's a 0.1 percent drop from the 7 percent rate in July 2010. The updated rate in June of this year also was 7 percent.

The county labor force in July was 666,784 people.

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The local unemployment rate was 0.5 percent lower than the state unemployment rate of 7.4 percent, and 2.4 percent lower than the national rate of 9.3. None of these figures are seasonally adjusted.

"It was interesting to see the June and July rate stay somewhat stable from month to month," said Bruce Nustad, president of TwinWest Chamber of Commerce. "With all the indicators moving up and down—one day there's good news and next day there's news relating to uncertainty—I guess it's good to see that number flat.

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"Obviously, we'd like to see that moving down."

The state unemployment rate increased by 0.4 percent from June to July, while the U.S. rate stayed the same.

The state jobless rate "is distorted by the impact of the state government shutdown," according to Rachel Vilsack, coordinator of special projects for the DEED. 

"We also experienced a surge of 29,000 new labor force participants in July," Vilsack said. "One item of interest in July’s report is the fact that, on an unadjusted basis, the state’s labor force exceeded three million for the first time ever."

Labor changes in different employment areas only are available by region. In the entire Twin Cities metro area, the sectors that gained the most jobs from June to July were specialty trade contractors (up 5.6 percent) and local government (up 3.9 percent).

"I hope that that's some indicator that there's some construction going on out there," Nustad said of the increase in specialty trade contractors. "We know the construction industry fuels many other industries. So we're hopeful that maybe a little uptick in the specialty trade contractors is an indicator that things might brighten on other fronts, as well."

In the Twin Cities metro area, state government jobs, not including education, saw a 56.9 percent drop from June due to the government shutdown.

"Indicators point to the likelihood of continued job gains, including the number of job openings available in Minnesota," Vilsack said. "The Conference Board, which tracks online help wanted counts, shows Minnesota’s job openings over the past three months at a level 45 percent higher than a year ago."

The state DEED commissioner also saw positive signs last month.

“We’re encouraged by the gain of 8,200 private-sector jobs in July,” Mark Phillips said. “While the numbers are temporarily distorted by the state government shutdown, Minnesota’s job growth continues to improve incrementally and actually shows signs of strength in a number of sectors.”  

Local government education jobs dropped by 26.6 percent over last month.


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