Trade, transportation and utilities led all Minnesota sectors in job growth in August, according to the latest numbers. State jobs analyst Steve Hine says those industries reached a level of employment — 532 thousand — not seen since late 2001. Hine says “within the sector it’s the transportation, warehousing and utilities component that has provided much of that strength, as it achieves its highest level since June of ’01.” Other sectors than gained jobs in August were education and health services, government and information. Logging and mining held steady. But construction, other services, manufacturing, financial activities, leisure/hospitality and professional/business services all shed jobs last month.
Even though the number of jobs in logging and mining held steady in August in Minnesota, over the past year that sector — plus manufacturing, information and other services — all lost jobs. Hine says those four sectors “have not yet been able to recover enough jobs in the past seven years of expansion to offset the losses that they experienced during the recession.” By contrast, education and health services gained over 21 thousand jobs in the past year, and leisure and hospitality added over nine thousand.