Unemployment Rate Rises: What Does this Look Like for Duluth?

The national unemployment rate landed to 14.7% for the month of April.

DULUTH, Minn. – The national unemployment rate landed to 14.7% for the month of April, the highest number since the Bureau of Labor Statistics started tracking the percentage in 1948.

What does this look like for the Duluth area? In March, the unemployment rate for Duluth was 4.9% compared to 3.9% for the state of Minnesota.

Local numbers for the month of April will come out on May 21st. Experts say national and local statistics have been pretty similar during the pandemic, especially with certain jobs.

“Leisure and hospitality industries, so they’re in occupations such as food preparation and service so in that sense we are seeing a lot of similar trends,” said Carson Gorecki, a regional labor market analyst.

640,000 people have applied for unemployment statewide. About 97% are applying, hoping it is temporary and planning to return to the same employer. For more information about resources concerning unemployment, visit uimn.org.