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Minnesota: Where job creation is above average
Minnesota accounted for one-tenth of all job growth in the nation last quarter, state economic officialssaid.
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Minnesota's job growth in the second quarter of 2006 accounted for 10 percent of the nation's overall job creation and was the biggest quarterly gain in 22 years, Minnesota officials said Tuesday.
In June, the final month of the quarter, there were 14,700 jobs created, involving increases in nine of the 11 job sectors monitored by the state.
Year-over-year job growth, as of June, was 2.7 percent, nearly double the national rate of 1.4 percent, according to figures released by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The state's unemployment rate, meanwhile, fell one-tenth of a point, to 3.6 percent.
Additionally, the seasonally adjusted number of new claims for unemployment benefits dropped in June to a 5½-year low of 21,001. First-time claims are an indicator of the pace of layoffs across the state.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty described the state's economy as "firing on all cylinders," with education, health care services and retail sectors leading the way and manufacturing, long dormant, improving slightly.
Acting DEED Commissioner Ward Einess said it appears many of the new jobs were high-skill jobs and described them overall as "fairly well paying," including high-end manufacturing.
Public jobs on the rise
Public sector jobs were among those created most briskly in recent months.
Last month, the strongest increases in state jobs were in educational and health services, which added 8,100 jobs, said Steve Hine, research director for the Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Government was another strong sector, adding 3,300 jobs last month.
However, education-related jobs might have been affected by longer school years extending into June, Hine said. That means those numbers might balance out next month, he said.
The trade, transportation and utilities category also did well, adding 3,200 jobs in June. "We were particularly strong in retail -- a good sign after that area had been somewhat weak over the past couple months," Hine said.
Losing sectors included professional and business services, which lost 1,000 jobs, and construction, down 700 because of a continued slowdown in home building.
The politics of employment
The jobs and economic picture is likely to be touted in Pawlenty's re-election bid, and opponents moved quickly to discount the figures.
Pawlenty, a first-term Republican, attributed much of the job growth to his working to keep a lid on taxes in order to prevent job providers from facing a competitive disadvantage. He also cited education reforms that he said foster a more talented and skilled workforce, and he pointed to efforts to slow the rise in health care costs.
But DFL chair Brian Melendez said the increase in jobs was the result of productive workers and job owners, not the Pawlenty administration, and he criticized the governor for college tuition increases that he said will make it more difficult for Minnesota students to compete in the workplace.
"We need a leader to not just take credit for others' hard work, but one that will make sure that the ladder of success isn't pulled up out of the reach of the next generation, like Pawlenty is trying to do," Melendez said.
The group Alliance for a Better Minnesota, which has been critical of Pawlenty's economic policies, said the jobs announcement was an attempt to get Minnesota citizens to forget what it said was a string of broken promises to bring economic development to the state.
"Don't believe what he says about economic development," said Dave Foster, chairman of the alliance. "Because once again, this governor has done too little, too late."
Staff writer Susan E. Peterson contributed to this report. Mark Brunswick • 651-222-1636
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