Rochester Area Loses Nearly 1,100 Jobs in 12 Months as Minnesota Hiring Stalls
Updated
Updated · KROC-AM · May 23
Rochester Area Loses Nearly 1,100 Jobs in 12 Months as Minnesota Hiring Stalls
2 articles · Updated · KROC-AM · May 23
Nearly 1,100 Rochester-area jobs disappeared between April 2025 and April 2026, pushing the metro to roughly 1% negative annual job growth after a loss of about 100 jobs in March.
That marks a sharp reversal from April 2025, when Rochester had added more than 6,300 jobs for 5.1% growth after a long stretch of strong gains.
Every major Minnesota metro also posted year-over-year losses in April, led by the Twin Cities down 8,700 jobs; Duluth lost about 1,200, St. Cloud 835 and Mankato about 500.
Statewide, Minnesota added nearly 16,000 jobs from March to April, but annual growth was just 0.1%—a net gain of a little more than 4,000 jobs—as the labor force shrank by more than 10,000.
Minnesota's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held at 4.5% in April, again above the national rate of 4.3%, underscoring broader weakness behind Rochester's slide.
As global war and federal policies batter Minnesota's economy, can state-level initiatives actually prevent a deeper local recession?
Is the war with Iran the real cause of Minnesota's job crisis, or are domestic immigration policies having a greater impact?