Unemployment Rates Lowest They’ve Been in Minnesota in 17 Years

Unemployment Rate at 3.1 Percent in Minnesota

ST. PAUL, Minn.-The Minnesota unemployment rate has reached a 17-year low of 3.1 percent, with jobs growing in the Duluth-Superior area by 2.1 percent in the last year.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development released those figures today noting that the unemployment rate has been cut in half, compared to seven years ago.

“Minnesota’s economy has greatly improved over the last seven years, with our state’s employers adding nearly 297,700 new jobs since January 2011,” said Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton in a prepared statement. “I am also very pleased to see that deep employment disparities among African Americans in Minnesota are continuing to improve. Despite this progress, we have more work to do to ensure that all Minnesotans, in every community across our state, have better access to employment opportunities and growing wages.”

In January 2011, just eight percent of state employees were people of color- today, 12 percent of the state’s workforce are non-white.