Strong Private Sector Job Growth Continues in September

St. Paul – Minnesota gained 4,200 jobs in September, up 0.1%, according to numbers released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). Minnesota's September unemployment rate remains historically low at 2%, one-tenth of a point higher than August and 1.5 points better than the national rate of 3.5%. Minnesota's labor force participation rate ticked down one-tenth of point to 68.1%, compared to the national rate of 62.3%.

Minnesota's job growth in September follows the addition of 1,200 jobs (revised up from a loss of 3,100) in August. Minnesota's private sector gained 8,500 jobs in September, up 0.3%, with Government losing 4,300 jobs, down 1%. The U.S. gained 578,000 jobs in September, up 0.4% from August, with the private sector adding 563,000 jobs, up 0.4% on a seasonally adjusted basis.

The trend toward job growth has remained strong coming out of the pandemic. Minnesota employment has grown 2.4% since January 2022 while the U.S. has grown 2.2%. For 12 straight months, Minnesota has gained jobs.

"Minnesota's economy is strong and continues to grow, with a new milestone today of 12 straight months of job growth," said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. "Our nation-leading unemployment rate continues to reveal a market full of opportunity – we're committed to driving innovative approaches to help Minnesota businesses find the workers they need."

Minnesota remained at the top of the list of states with the tightest labor markets with 4.1 job openings for every unemployed worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data from July, the latest such information available. With 226,000 job openings in July, Minnesota had a vacancy rate of 7.2%, 15th highest tied with Idaho and Illinois. The number of involuntary parttime workers in Minnesota ticked down to 28,100 in September, another all-time low. These low numbers indicate that workers don't need to settle for parttime jobs when they prefer fulltime jobs and are another sign of the very tight labor market.

Wages grew even faster in Minnesota in September than in August, up 5.7% overall, although still slower than inflation, with the CPI at 8.2% in September.

Looking at unemployment and labor force participation by race and ethnicity in Minnesota, the labor force participation rate rose to 67.7% up nine-tenths of a point for Black workers, declined by two-tenths of a percent for white workers to 68.4% and fell 1.3 points to 79.1% for Hispanic workers, based on 12-month moving average. Unemployment rates also vary by racial and ethnic groups, based on 12-month moving averages, with Black Minnesotans seeing a continued decline in unemployment.

Month/Year Total Black Hispanic White

September-2022 2.7% 5.9% 3.7% 2.2%

August-2022 2.8% 6.6% 3.6% 2.3%

September-2021 4.2% 3.9% 5.5% 4.2%

February-2020 3.1% 4.5% 5.0% 3.0%

(Source for both the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate by race and ethnicity is 12-month moving average Demecon data from the Current Population Survey.)

Teen (16-19) labor force participation, at 53% in September (12-month moving average) has made gains in the last two years. Teen unemployment is also very low at 6.2%, indicating this group of workers is in demand and could help fill jobs employers are having more difficulty finding adults to fill in a very tight labor market.

Labor Force Indicators for Teens age 16-19, 12-month moving averages

Month/Year LFPR Employment to Population Ratio Unemployment Rate

September-2022 53.0% 49.8% 6.2%

August-2022 54.0% 50.8% 6.1%

September-2021 50.3% 47.4% 5.9%

Here are noteworthy supersectors that gained or lost jobs on a seasonally adjusted basis over the month in September in Minnesota:

• Gains were in Education & Health Services up 3,200 jobs or 0.6%, Professional & Business Services up 1,600 jobs or 0.4%, Leisure & Hospitality, up 1,400 jobs or 0.6%, Manufacturing up 1,100 jobs or 0.3% and Construction up 900 jobs or 0.7%.

• Losses were in Government, down 4,300 jobs or 1%, Financial Activities down 900 jobs or 0.5%, Other Services down 700 jobs or 0.6%, and Information down 600 jobs or 1.4%. Mining & Logging had no change from last month.

Over the year, Minnesota gained 93,713 payroll jobs, up 3.3%. The private sector gained 92,315 jobs, up 3.8% over the year.

• All supersectors posted positive over the year (OTY) employment growth with the exception of Mining & Logging.

o Professional & Business Services grew 6.2% OTY (22,829 jobs). Administrative and Support & Waste Management Services led growth, up 8.2% (10,425 jobs) with Employment Services (temp help) up 7.4% (4,161 jobs). Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services grew 6.1% (9,540 jobs). Management of Companies gained 2,864 jobs OTY, up 3.3%.

o Manufacturing posted 15,937 additional jobs, up 5.1% OTY. All published sectors showed growth, though the Durable Goods sector drove the growth, adding 12,125 jobs, or 6.1%. Minnesota's Manufacturing employment growth continued to be stronger than the nation's, which was at 3.7% OTY in September.

o Leisure & Hospitality continued to post the highest OTY growth of all the supersectors, up 6.5%, unchanged from last month, with the addition of 15,890 jobs.

o Mining & Logging lost 252 jobs, down 3.7%.

U.S. employment grew 3.7% OTY with the private sector up 4.2% in September. All supersectors showed gains OTY.

Minnesota and U.S. Employment and Unemployment – September 2022

Seasonally Adjusted Not Seasonally Adjusted

Unemployment Rate September 2022 August 2022 September 2022 September 2021

Minnesota 2% 1.9% 1.8% 2.8%

U.S. 3.5% 3.7% 3.3% 4.6%

Non-Farm Jobs September 2022 August 2022 Sept. '21- Sept. '22 Level Change Sept. '21- Sept. '22 % Change

Minnesota 2,938,200 2,934,400 93,713 3.3%

U.S. 153,018,000 152,744,000 5,422,000 3.7%

Minnesota and U.S. Over-the-Year (OTY) Employment Change, Not Seasonally Adjusted: September 2021 – September 2022

MN OTY Job Change MN OTY Growth Rate (%) US OTY Growth Rate (%)

Total 93,713 3.3 3.7

Private 92,315 3.8 4.2

Mining & Logging -252 -3.7 9.8

Construction 1,379 1.0 3.7

Manufacturing 15,937 5.1 3.7

Trade, Transport. & Utilities 10,575 2.1 3.1

Information 940 2.2 6.0

Financial Activities 1,468 0.8 1.8

Prof. & Business Services 22,829 6.2 4.6

Ed. & Health Services 19,093 3.6 3.8

Leisure & Hospitality 15,890 6.5 8.1

Other Services 4,456 4.2 3.5

Government 1,398 0.3 0.7

Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) Over-the-Year (OTY) Employment Change, Not Seasonally Adjusted: September 2021 – September 2022

(August 2021 – August 2022 for border state MSAs due to data delay from MSAs outside Minnesota.)

Metropolitan Statistical Area OTY Employment Change (#, NSA) OTY Employment Change (%, NSA)

Minneapolis-St. Paul MN-WI MSA 75,536 3.9

Duluth-Superior MN-WI MSA 3,383 2.6

Rochester MSA 3,812 3.1

St. Cloud MSA 3,468 3.3

Mankato MSA 1,587 2.9

Fargo-Moorhead ND-MN MSA (Aug) 4,200 2.9

Grand Forks-East Grand Forks ND-MN MSA (Aug) 1,900 3.7

La Crosse-Onalaska WI-MN (Aug) -400 -0.5

Visit the DEED website to see DEED's alternative measures of unemployment. You can also find monthly jobs numbers and unemployment data on DEED's website. In addition, see related articles about job growth and labor market changes in the latest issue of Minnesota Employment Trends. Access resources to help Minnesotans prepare for and find employment now at CareerForceMN.com/GoodJobsNow.

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