Minnesota Adds 5,400 May Jobs as Unemployment Falls to 4.4%
Updated
Updated · FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul · Jun 18
Minnesota Adds 5,400 May Jobs as Unemployment Falls to 4.4%
3 articles · Updated · FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul · Jun 18
Summary
Minnesota added 5,400 non-farm jobs in May, a 0.2% gain, while its unemployment rate edged down 0.1 point to 4.4%.
That growth topped the U.S. monthly pace for a second straight month, with national non-farm employment up 172,000, or 0.1%, and private-sector jobs in Minnesota rising by 5,900.
Leisure and hospitality led the increase with 2,400 jobs, followed by construction with 2,100, helping extend Minnesota's March-May gain to 23,900 jobs, or 0.79%, versus 0.22% nationally.
The improvement came with a warning sign: Minnesota's labor-force participation rate fell 0.2 point to 67.2%, its sixth consecutive monthly decline, as officials said wage and labor-force growth have not yet turned around.
The May rebound follows a rough start to 2026 and nearly a year of turbulence tied partly to tariffs and immigration changes, leaving officials to describe the state's economy as still mixed despite recent progress.