Minnesota's economy added 9,000 jobs in February, the state reported Thursday, as hiring in retail, construction, and health care drove the gains.
The unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent for the fourth straight month, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Katie Clark Sieben, the commissioner of the agency, pointed to a spike in state labor force participation and a higher employment-to-population rate as positive developments.
"Minnesota's surging labor force grew by another 18,700 workers last month, raising the labor force participation rate to 70.9 percent," Sieben said.
That labor force participation rate — the share of working-age people either working or looking for a job — is the highest since 2011. And the employment-to-population rate of 68.3 percent, which reflects the share of the total population that is working, is the highest since August 2008.
After growing slowly for much of 2015, Minnesota's labor force has spiked in the past two months, adding 34,000 people, according to the state's data. That growth is an encouraging sign for a state whose workforce is heavy with baby boomers moving toward retirement.
The state has gained 42,137 new jobs in the past year, an increase of 1.5 percent. With its already low unemployment rate, Minnesota is lagging U.S. job growth, which over the same period was 1.9 percent.
Jobs in manufacturing, mining, wholesale trade and administrative business services — a category that includes temporary and contract jobs — all declined in February. So did government employment and leisure and hospitality, which includes restaurant servers and hotel workers.
The biggest gains were in health care, the largest sector in the state economy, and in retail trade and construction, which has benefited from a mild winter, said Steve Hine, the state labor market analyst.
Unemployment claims dropped in February, despite the month having five Mondays in it because of leap year.
Measures of racial and ethnic groups showed black unemployment dropped in February to 13.6 percent. That remains much higher than the 11.3 percent posted a year ago, and the 2.9 percent unemployment rate for whites. Estimated Hispanic unemployment rose to 4.5 percent.
Here's how the state's metropolitan areas fared over the past 12 months: employment in Minneapolis-St. Paul was up 1.8 percent, Rochester was 2.4 percent, St. Cloud was up 2.5 percent and Mankato was up 1.4 percent. The Duluth-Superior metro area was down 2 percent.
Adam Belz • 612-673-4405 Twitter: @adambelz
