Minnesota loses 10,300 jobs in August

ST. PAUL - National economists say the recession technically is over, but Minnesota economic leaders say workers have yet to feel an improvement.

A report released this morning showed 10,300 Minnesota jobs disappeared last month.

At the same time, the percentage of Minnesotans without jobs fell 0.1 percent to 8 percent in August, the Department of Employment and Economic Development announced. The national jobless rate was 9.7 percent.

Department Commissioner Dan McElroy said that in any recession, employment rebounds after other sectors of the economy.

"The (job) reduction in August was across a number of sectors." McElroy said.

Leisure and hospitality, trades, transportation, utilities, education, health care and government sectors led the job losses.

However, Steve Hine, labor market information office research director in McElroy's agency, said many of the education and government job loses, compared to a year ago, may have come because schools and colleges did not hire workers as early since in many places the school year began late this year.

In the past year, Minnesota has lost 120,300 jobs at a rate slightly less than the national average. Manufacturing and professional and businesses services experienced the most loses in that time.

While the state's yearly job growth rate was down 4.3 percent, it was worse in the Duluth-Superior area where 7,100 jobs were lost, for a 5.3 percent rate.