Number of Minnesotans employed falls by 7,900 in November, fifth consecutive month, now down 35,700 since June

These are some of the headlines in Minnesota’s media:

KNSI: Walz Says Minnesota Added Jobs For 14th Straight Month

Pioneer Press: Minnesota sees 14th straight month of job growth; 6,800 jobs added in November

KTTC: Minnesota hits 14 straight months of job growth

KEYC: DEED: 14 months of job growth in Minnesota

KAAL TV: DEED: Minnesota unemployment rate inches up, job growth continues

Red Lake Nation News: Minnesota Hits 14 Straight Months of Job Growth

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal: Minnesota unemployment is still historically low in November

WJON: MN adds more jobs

Star Tribune: Minnesota added 6,800 jobs last month; jobless rate ticks up to 2.3%

KROC: Minnesota’s String of Job Gains Extended to 14 Consecutive Months

It is true that Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data from the Current Employment Statistics survey do show that the number of jobs in Minnesota grew by 6,800 in November. But it is also true that data from the BLS’ Current Population Survey show that the number of Minnesotans employed fell by 7,933 in November. As Figure 1 shows, this is the fifth consecutive month that the number of people employed in our state has fallen and there are now 35,720 fewer Minnesotans employed than there were in June.

Figure 1: Monthly change in the number of jobs and people employed in Minnesota, 2022

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

This isn’t just the time of year, as some have suggested. As I noted recently:

…in 15 out of 23 years [since 2000] the number of people employed in our state actually rose [from June to October], we also see that the decline in 2022 is the steepest this century.

Neither is this decline in employment a general phenomenon, as others have said:

Not only do we see that Minnesota is among the 30 jurisdictions which have seen employment decline [from June to October], but our decline is worse than in just four other states.

As I noted last month:

All is not well in Minnesota’s economy generally and its labor market specifically. This was a difficult argument to make before the election when Minnesota’s media was circling the wagons. Hopefully, with that out of the way, we can now have the fact-based debate we need about our state’s economy.

The Babbitt’s in Minnesota’s media are not done boosting yet.