The local region saw year over year jobs gains of 9% in April, almost all of them coming in the service sector.
Service jobs grew by nearly 11% as restaurants and stores recover from the pandemic. Manufacturing jobs in the local region grew by 0.5% compared to April of last year, according to data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Government jobs grew by 2.1% locally.
There were 55,385 jobs in the Mankato-North Mankato metropolitan statistical area, which is all of Blue Earth and Nicollet counties. That’s an increase of 4,557 jobs compared to April of 2020.
The Mankato region’s job growth was slightly stronger than most metropolitan areas in the state. Duluth was up 10% in April, the Twin Cities saw an 8.7% increase, Rochester was up 7.4% and St. Cloud saw an increase of 7.8%.
Minnesota job numbers were up 9% year over year.
In April 2021, Minnesota gained 230,463 payroll jobs, up 9% over the year. The gains put Minnesota 165,852 jobs short of April 2019 employment. The private sector gained 218,040 jobs, up 10.1% over the year, putting the private sector 150,042 jobs short of its April 2019 level.
U.S. employment grew 10.9% over the year with the private sector up 13.3% in April. Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1% in April, from 4.2% in March. The unemployment rate decline was due to people moving from unemployment to employment. The U.S. unemployment rate rose one-tenth to 6.1% in April.
For the fourth straight month, Minnesota gained jobs compared to the previous month. Minnesota gained 11,300 jobs in April on a seasonally adjusted basis, up 0.4%, following growth of 20,400 (adjusted) jobs in March, 12,400 jobs in February and 51,600 jobs in January. Minnesota’s private sector gained 8,100 jobs of those 11,300 jobs in April, up 0.3%. The U.S. gained 266,000 jobs, up 0.2% over the month in April.
Minnesota lost 416,300 jobs from February through April 2020 and has since gained 235,300 jobs, or 56.5% of the jobs lost on a seasonally adjusted basis. The private sector has regained 57.7% of the jobs lost.
“We’re continuing to see job growth,” DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a statement.
Many Minnesotans, particularly those from Black, Indigenous and people of color communities, are looking for work now. Based on 12-month moving averages, the unemployment rate for Black Minnesotans was 8.9% in April, down from 9% in March and up from 4.3% one year ago. The Latinx unemployment rate was 7.7% in April, holding steady from March, and up from 4.4% one year ago. White Minnesotans were at 5.6% in April, down from 5.9% in March, and up from 3.5% one year ago.
In Minnesota, eight supersectors gained jobs and three lost jobs in April on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Gains were largest in Professional and Business Services, up 4,800 jobs or 1.3%; Government, up 3,200 jobs or 0.8%; Leisure and Hospitality up 3,100 jobs or 1.4%; Trade, Transportation and Utilities up 2,500 jobs or 0.5%; and Construction up 1,100 jobs or 0.9% over the month.
