Minnesota posts strong job growth to start 2022

Editor’s note: This news release was edited for length.

State gains 10,200 jobs, unemployment rate ticks below 3 percent, labor force participation rate on the rise

Minnesota gained 10,200 jobs in the last month on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to numbers released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). This follows the addition of 2,500 jobs in December 2021 (revised). The jobs growth from December 2021 to January 2022 is the largest single month growth since July 2021. The private sector gained 9,100 jobs, up 0.4 percent, continuing a four-month-long job gains streak.

The unemployment rate ticked down in January 2022 to 2.9 percent from 3.0 percent in December 2021. The decline was entirely due to people moving from unemployment to employment. The labor force participation rate rose from 67.3 percent in December 2021 (revised), to 67.6 percent January 2022, up three-tenths of a percentage point. Nationally, the unemployment rate rose one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.0 percent and the labor force participation rate also rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 62.2 percent (revised).

“Today’s job numbers show great momentum at a critical time in our economy,” said DEED Commissioner Steve Grove. “And a jump in labor force participation shows that efforts to connect job seekers with great jobs are succeeding. We remain laser-focused on helping businesses and workers connect at a time of historically large workforce shortages across every industry.”

Minnesota lost 417,600 jobs from February through April 2020 (benchmarked) and has since gained 296,800 jobs as of January 2022, or 71 percent of the jobs lost on a seasonally adjusted basis. The private sector has regained 75 percent of the jobs lost.

Many Minnesotans continue to be out of work, but the employment impact of the pandemic on workers has been difficult to measure. The pandemic caused some people to drop out of the workforce, lowering labor force participation, which resulted in an unemployment rate below what would be expected given job losses.