This week the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) released new employment numbers. The news was good:
The agency said the state has added 45,617 jobs in the past year, a growth rate of 1.6 percent, compared with a U.S. growth rate of 1.8 percent during that period. Since January 2011, the state has gained 154,300 jobs.
The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 4.6 percent. The U.S. unemployment rate in May was 6.3 percent.
“Minnesota’s unemployment rate is at the lowest level in seven years, which is yet another indicator of our improving economy,” said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. “It is also encouraging to see growth occurring in Minnesota’s construction and manufacturing sectors, which have each added more than 9,000 jobs in the past year.”
You can read the data at the bottom of this post, but before we get there we should review some political background. When Stewart Mills announced his run for Congress against Rep. Rick Nolan, he joined other Republican candidates in describing troubling unemployment figures that signaled Democratic failures. These new jobs numbers run completely afoul of that assertion, something that numerous people from Democratic circles have pointed out to me and anyone else who will listen. Indeed, from a statewide standpoint it’s going to get very hard for the GOP to argue that two years of DFL rule in state politics have ruined the economy. They might not like the policy, but that’s different than rising unemployment and slowing business growth. Those things just aren’t happening.
That being said, I’m not willing to say everything is hunky dory. It would appear from the numbers that Northern Minnesota’s employment numbers are growing slower than those of the rest of the state. That might sound like a political point for Mills, but we should resist the urge to point fingers over this. The reason Northern Minnesota’s economy is stagnate, especially here on the Iron Range, has everything to do with our lack of economic diversity and our aging demographics, and virtually nothing to do with radical environmentalism. If you hear the opposite, you’re talking to someone who doesn’t want to deal with the real problem.
Frankly, while Republicans should rightfully shoulder a bigger responsibility for the obstructionism and extremism that has permeated modern politics, both the GOP and DFL have offered precious little to address Northern Minnesota’s persistent struggles to modernize. What has been done needs to be prioritized far ahead of much of what we talk about in state political roundtables. I talked about this in a recent interview on AM 950 in the Twin Cities. I don’t know how well my style translates to partisan talk radio, but I gave the straight stuff as best I could.
Here are the data:
|
Seasonally adjusted
|
Not seasonally adjusted
|
||
Unemployment Rate |
May |
April |
May |
May |
Minnesota |
4.6 |
4.7 |
4.2 |
4.7 |
U.S. |
6.3 |
6.3 |
6.1 |
7.3 |
Employment |
May |
April |
May ‘13- |
May ‘13- |
Minnesota |
2,817,000 |
2,806,700 |
45,617 |
1.6 |
U.S. |
138,463,000 |
138,246,000 |
2,399,000 |
1.8 |
Over The Year Employment Growth By Industry Sector (NSA) |
|||
|
OTY Job Change |
OTY Growth Rate (%) |
U.S. OTY Growth Rate (%) |
Total Non-Farm Employment |
45,617 |
1.6 |
1.8 |
Logging and Mining |
261 |
3.8 |
5.2 |
Construction |
9,447 |
9.2 |
3.3 |
Manufacturing |
9,404 |
3.1 |
0.9 |
Trade, Trans. and Utilities |
1,600 |
0.3 |
2.2 |
Information |
462 |
0.9 |
-1.3 |
Financial Activities |
-1,586 |
-0.9 |
0.6 |
Prof. and Bus. Services |
8,667 |
2.5 |
3.5 |
Ed. and Health Services |
8,917 |
1.8 |
1.8 |
Leisure and Hospitality |
5,736 |
2.2 |
2.7 |
Other Services |
541 |
0.5 |
0.9 |
Government |
2,158 |
0.5 |
0.1 |
Metropolitan Statistical Area |
OTY |
OTY Employment Change |
Minneapolis-St. Paul MN-WI MSA |
28,700 |
1.6 |
Duluth-Superior MN -WI MSA |
96 |
0.1 |
Rochester MSA |
438 |
0.4 |
St. Cloud MSA |
4,003 |
3.9 |
Mankato MSA |
1,102 |
2.0 |
Source: Minnesota DEED
This piece was cross-posted with my Up North Report blog at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
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