Minnesota’s unemployment rate did not budge much in August, coming in at 7.4% compared to 7.6% in July.
But the state added 40,500 jobs last month, an improvement from July when it recovered 32,500 jobs.
“We are continuing to see steady job growth and a decline in unemployment in Minnesota, but it will take some time to replace jobs lost during the pandemic, Steve Grove, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), said in a statement.
He said job growth remains uneven across industries and occupations and that most of the losses remain in low-income jobs.
The government, leisure and hospitality and manufacturing sectors led the state in adding back jobs last month.
The July jobless rate was revised down slightly from 7.7% that DEED initially reported last month.
The U.S. unemployment rate fell at a faster rate to 8.4% in August, from 10.2% in July.