Minnesota employers cut 4,100 jobs in December, but the state’s unemployment rate held steady at a seasonally adjusted 7.4 percent, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) said Thursday.
The national unemployment rate also remained unchanged at 10 percent.
“December’s results are consistent with the ebb and flow of a recovering economy,” DEED Commissioner Dan McElroy said in a statement. “We expected the pace of recovery would be slow, although generally the Minnesota economy is on the mend and should continue to improve in the coming months.”
Minnesota lost 3 percent, or 80,800, of its jobs in 2009—the same percent of jobs lost by the nation as a whole.
Five of the state’s 11 job sectors added jobs in December. They are: professional and business services (3,900 jobs), manufacturing (1,000 jobs), information (300 jobs), government (300 jobs), and logging and mining (100 jobs).
The trade, transportation, and utilities sector cut 3,800 jobs in December, the most of any sector. The remaining sectors that cut jobs are: construction (1,700 jobs), financial activities (1,700 jobs), leisure and hospitality (1,300 jobs), education and health services (900 jobs), and other services (300 jobs).
The education and health services sector added 4,800 jobs in 2009. It was the only sector to add jobs in Minnesota.
The manufacturing sector cut 33,100 jobs in 2009, which accounted for two out of every five jobs cut in the state.
The hardest hit sector on a percentage basis was logging and mining, which lost 17.6 percent of its jobs last year. The sector cut 1,000 jobs in 2009.
