Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell 0.1 points in August, to 8.0 percent, according to new data released by the Department of Employment and Education Development.

While the drop is modest, this marks the first time the Gopher State’s unemployment rate has fallen in two consecutive months since May and June 2007 (falling from 4.7 to 4.6 to 4.5 percent from April-June of that year).

Seasonally adjusted jobless claims in Minnesota fell from 8.4 percent in June of this year to 8.1 percent in July.

With statements coming out of Washington, D.C. that the recession might be over and the stock market in the midst of a healthy rebound this year, Minnesota may have escaped reaching double-digit unemployment, as once feared earlier in 2009. Fifteen states across the U.S. were enduring jobless rates in excess of 10 percent as of July, including several in the Midwest: Illinois (10.4 percent), Indiana (10.6 percent), Ohio (11.2 percent), and Michigan (15.0 percent).

In fact, Minnesota’s jobs crisis in 2009, while historic along several dimensions, is now at a 10-year low vis-à-vis the national unemployment rate. In August, unemployment nationwide rose from 9.4 to 9.7 percent, leaving the U.S. rate 1.7 points higher than the Gopher State. This is the largest percentage point difference since April 1999, when Minnesota’s 2.5 percent unemployment rate was 1.8 points below the national average of 4.3 percent.

Dating back to January 1976, Minnesota’s unemployment rate has only been higher than the national average in just 6 months (all in 2007-2008), has been even with the national rate in 3 months, and has been lower than the national rate in 395 months.

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Posted in Economy and jobs, Minnesota

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