Minnesota's Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6% in June

St. Paul – Minnesota's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 8.6% in June down from 9.9% in May according to numbers released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Minnesota added 84,700 payroll jobs in June on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 3.2%, with the private sector adding 84,400 jobs, up 3.8%, during the month. Government added 300 jobs. Seasonally adjusted employment gains in May were revised upward from 9,800 to 26,200 or 1.0%.

"Many Minnesotans who were laid off are beginning to return to work – which is a good sign. Yet our unemployment rate remains more than double what it was before the pandemic," said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. "To continue to see positive trends in our economy, we need to continue to be safe as we reopen our economy to avoid the volatility we're seeing in other states that are dialing back due to troubling COVID-19 outbreaks. That means wearing masks and practicing social distancing."

June's employment numbers capture the job situation immediately after the reopening of indoor service at restaurants and bars. Seasonally adjusted gains in June were led by leisure and hospitality, up 35,300 (24.9%), with accommodation and food service gaining 31,400 of the jobs (26.0%) and arts, entertainment, and recreation gaining 3,900 job (18.7%), followed by trade, transportation, and utilities up 19,100 with most of the gains in retail trade, up 17,300 jobs (6.4%) and education and health services up 16,900 jobs (3.4%) with 10,600 jobs added in health care & social assistance (2.4%) and another 6,300 jobs added in Education Services (11.3%). The small supersector called other services (including personal services) added 11,300 for an over the month growth rate of 12.9%, the strongest growth rate of any supersector after leisure and hospitality.

Only three supersectors saw seasonally adjusted job losses in June: construction lost 2,000 jobs, down 1.6%; information lost 200 jobs, down 0.5%; financial activities lost 1,500 jobs, down 0.8%. Financial activities losses were entirely in real estate, rental and leasing, which lost 1,700 jobs, down 5.5%.

The U.S. gained 4.800 million payroll jobs in June, up 3.6% with the private sector gaining 4.767 million, up 4.3%. Minnesota's unemployment rate continues to trend better than the national unemployment rate, which fell to 11.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis in June, down from 13.3% in May.

In Minnesota, the number of people unemployed dropped by 35,440 to 267,526 in June while the number employed rose 81,822 to 2,848,800, which put it above where employment stood in April (2,799,493). Minnesota's labor force grew by 46,382 people in June, 4,933 people short of where it was in February 2020 on a seasonally adjusted basis, with labor force participation at 69.9%, just above the March rate.

Over the year in June, Minnesota shed 273,776 payroll jobs, down 9.1%, while the private sector shed 232,053 jobs, down 9.0%. Despite improvement since May, all supersectors lost jobs in June over the year in Minnesota. The percent of job losses was still greatest in leisure and hospitality, down 34.4% over the year. Logging and mining was down 19.9%, information was down 15.6% and other services was down 15.2%.

Overall, Minnesota's private sector bounced back more than the nation's in June, with over the year job declines of 9.0% in Minnesota compared to 9.6% nationwide.

Employment fell in June over the year in all Minnesota Metropolitan Statistical Areas.

DEED is reminding Minnesotans receiving unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that the $600 additional payment authorized by the CARES Act, known as the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) is scheduled to end later this month.

Unless the program is extended by the federal government, the last week that FPUC may be paid in Minnesota is the week ending July 25, 2020.

Minnesota and U.S. Employment and Unemployment – June 2020

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted

Unemployment Rate June 2020 May 2020 June 2020 June 2019

Minnesota 8.6% 9.9% 8.5% 9.4%

U.S. 11.1% 13.3% 11.2% 13.0%

Employment June 2020 May 2020 June '19-June '20 Level Change June'19-June '20 % Change

Minnesota 84,700 26,200 -273,776 -9.1%

U.S. 4,800,000 2,599,000 -13,729,000 -9.0%

Minnesota and U.S. Over the Year (OTY) Employment Change, Not Seasonally Adjusted: June 2019 - June 2020

OTY Employment Change OTY Growth Rate (%) US OTY Growth Rate (%)

Total -273,776 -9.1 -9.0

Private -232,053 -9.0 -9.6

Logging & Mining -1,355 -19.9 -17.6

Construction -8,414 -6.0 -4.4

Manufacturing -20,767 -6.3 -5.8

Trade, Transport. & Utilities -16,628 -3.1 -7.5

Information -7,360 -15.6 -8.9

Financial Activities -8,500 -4.4 -0.7

Prof. & Business Services -15,556 -4.0 -8.1

Ed. & Health Services -35,269 -6.5 -6.1

Leisure & Hospitality -100,455 -34.4 -27.8

Other Services -17,749 -15.2 -12.7

Government -41,723 -9.6 -5.8

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Over the Year (OTY) Employment Change, Not Seasonally Adjusted: June 2019 – June 2020

Metropolitan Statistical Area OTY Employment Change OTY Employment Growth Rate (%)

Minneapolis-St. Paul MN-WI MSA -189,212 -9.2

Duluth-Superior MN-WI MSA -11,362 -8.2

Rochester MSA -8,352 -6.7

St. Cloud MSA -4,643 -4.2

Mankato MSA -2,952 -5.1

Visit the DEED website to see DEED's alternative measures of unemployment. You can also find the monthly jobs numbers and unemployment data on DEED's website. You can see a list of the top 30 jobs in demand now in Minnesota on CareerForceMN.com.

DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more information about the agency and its services visit the DEED website or follow DEED on Twitter.