Minnesota’s unemployment rate stayed flat in March, holding at 4.5 percent while the national rate edged slightly lower…
“Minnesota gained 800 non-farm jobs, which equates to 0.0%, which is why we’re terming them flat, essentially. And that’s on an over-the-month, seasonally adjusted basis. If you look just at the private sector, we gained 600, holding even again at 0.0% during that period.”
Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Matt Varilek says some areas saw improvement in jobs…
“Led by professional and business services, which gained 1,500, and then manufacturing, which gained 1,100. Five super sectors lost jobs over the month, led by trade, transportation, and utilities, down 1,900. Leisure and hospitality also saw its third consecutive month of losses with 800 jobs lost, or 0.3%.”
Wright County jobless numbers fell slightly in March to 5.3 percent, down from 5.6 percent in February, but they were up a full point from the 4.3 percent rate in March of 2025, and up more than 1 and a half percent from the same period in 2024.
The latest statistics from DEED show that local unemployment in the first quarter of 2026 is the highest it’s been since January of 2021 when the economy was still reeling from the effects of COVID.
(content: in part, courtesy MNN)
