Employment in Minnesota fell for the fifth straight month in September, down 27,500 since April
Last week, Minnesota’s media reported:
KEYC: DEED: Minnesota adds 6300 jobs in September
KNSI: Minnesota Sees Job Gains, Strong Wage Growth in September
Star Tribune: Minnesota hoping to reverse manufacturing job losses after a September slide
Northern News Now: Minnesota continues to see increase in jobs
KFGO: Minnesota sees 3rd month in a row of net job growth
KAAL TV: 6300 jobs added during September in Minnesota
This is true. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) Establishment survey, which is part of its Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, shows an increase of 6,300 in the Total Nonfarm jobs from August to September.
But, as I’ve noted before, the Household survey, which is conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau as part of its Current Population Survey (CPS), gives an estimate of the number of Minnesotans actually in employment. And, from August to September the number of people actually employed in Minnesota fell by 1,712. This was the fifth consecutive month of declining employment in our state and there are 27,466 fewer Minnesotans employed now than in April. Indeed, there are fewer Minnesotans employed now than there were in January 2019, when Gov. Walz was inaugurated.
If you look beneath the headlines, the news is not so good.