Minnesota jobless rate down in September

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota’s unemployment rate dropped to 6.9 percent in September, a small improvement from the previous month, according to figures released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Commissioner Mark Phillips says Thursday that Minnesota has gained a total of 53,600 jobs in the last two years and is “slowly pulling out of the recession.” He says declining requests for new unemployment insurance and strong demand for temporary workers are both hopeful signs of continued recovery.

The September unemployment rate was three-tenths of a percent lower than in August. It’s also well below the U.S. unemployment rate in September of 9.1 percent.

Government led all sectors in September with 7,000 new jobs, most related to education hiring. Other sectors to add jobs were financial services, and mining and logging. The most losses were seen in transportation and utilities, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing.