Fact Check: Is Minnesota’s job growth outpacing the nation?

(FOX 9) – Minutes after Minnesota financial growth officers launched September’s jobs information this week  — the ultimate numbers earlier than the Nov. 8 election — Gov. Tim Walz was prepared to advertise them.

“NEW: Our state has hit 12 straight months of job progress *and* continues to have one of many lowest unemployment charges within the nation,” Walz stated from his official Twitter account.

Walz’s workplace adopted up the governor’s tweet with a information launch that stated Minnesota’s 2022 job progress “continues to outpace the nationwide fee.”

The financial system is a prime concern on this 12 months’s midterms. Inflation has remained stubbornly close to a 40-year excessive, and Republicans are operating on a message that President Joe Biden and Democrats have mismanaged the financial system. On the similar time, Democratic governors like Walz can level to record-low unemployment charges.

However is Minnesota’s job progress something particular, or does a rising tide within the U.S. labor market raise all boats? 

State economies are intently linked to the U.S. as an entire, making it onerous for any governor to have a lot management over the financial system. However that does not cease incumbents from claiming credit score — or opponents from criticizing.

Minnesota’s job progress

Minnesota employers added 4,200 jobs in September whereas the unemployment fee ticked as much as 2%, which is the bottom fee within the U.S. for the fourth straight month.

The personal sector added an estimated 8,500 jobs in September. Schooling providers led the best way with 3,200 new hires. Skilled and enterprise providers added 1,600 jobs, and leisure and hospitality gained 1,400. Authorities misplaced 4,300 jobs. Personal-sector hiring in Minnesota was slower than the U.S. as an entire for the month.

It is true that Minnesota has added jobs for 12 straight months, in response to information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The final time Minnesota recorded a month-to-month loss was September 2021. The state had two months earlier this 12 months — June and August — the place hiring was basically flat.

That will get us to Walz’s declare that Minnesota’s year-to-date job progress is outpacing the nationwide fee. This isn’t the entire story.

Minnesota’s tempo of good points is 2.4% since January, in contrast with 2.2% for the nation. However that is due to sturdy month-to-month progress recorded in the beginning of the 12 months. Minnesota has barely lagged the U.S. extra lately. Since Could, Minnesota employment has grown 0.8%, in contrast with 0.9% for the U.S.

Tight labor market

One motive for that, economists say, is that Minnesota has one of many tightest labor markets within the U.S., with greater than three obtainable jobs for each unemployed employee.

There have been 192,000 job openings in August, down from 226,000 the earlier month, in response to the newest information obtainable from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Over that point interval, Minnesota averaged 60,000 unemployed individuals.

“It stays a decent labor market and one we expect is admittedly filled with alternative proper now,” Steve Grove, the state’s financial growth commissioner, advised reporters at a Thursday information convention. “It doesn’t appear plenty of employers are giving up on that want to rent within the mixture.” 

In September, Minnesota’s labor pressure participation fee ticked down for the third month in a row, to 68.1%, although it stays far increased than the nationwide common. Labor pressure participation fee is a measure of individuals working or unemployed and on the lookout for work. It would not rely individuals who’ve retired or are staying house with kids.

Inflation continued to outpace common private-sector wage good points in September, although the hole narrowed from earlier months. Wages grew a mean of 5.7% statewide, whereas inflation was 7.4% within the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro space — the one native area tracked by the federal authorities.