Minnesota January unemployment rate slips to 7.3 percent

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Minnesota’s unemployment rate slipped to 7.3 percent in January after employers in the state added 15,600 jobs last month.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says it’s the biggest one-month gain in state employment since April 2005, nearly five years ago.

In December, the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.4 percent, the same as the previous month. That was after the state added jobs in the two months previous. The national unemployment rate in November and December was 10 percent and dipped to 9.7 percent in January.

State employment commissioner Dan McElroy says Minnesota officials are encouraged by improvement in the labor market. But he cautions it’s too early to say whether the state economy “has reached a turning point.”

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