Latest figures show Minnesota employers shed 15-hundred jobs in August and the unemployment rate ticked up a tenth-of-a-point to four percent — but state jobs analyst Steve Hine says, “Despite this being the fourth month of job declines in the first eight months of this calendar year, overall employment is still up by 25,700 so far during 2016.” Hine notes job growth in Minnesota has persistently lagged behind the national average, but says coming out of the recession the state was in better shape than most and hasn’t had to dig itself out of as big a hole as some other states like California.
Hine says the new jobs numbers continue showing significant strong improvements for black Minnesotans. In August the unemployment rate was down to 8 percent — half of what it was a year ago — and labor force participation rate was up to 68.1 percent. But Hine says although there’s been a very significant increase in median household income for black Minnesotans, it hasn’t been enough to close the large gap with white Minnesotans.