Mankato region adds 1.1% to job numbers in October, manufacturing up 6.1%
Nov. 17—MANKATO — The Mankato region added 1.1% to its job numbers in October, compared to a year earlier.
And manufacturing continued to be strong, adding 6.1% to job numbers locally.
Meanwhile no service sector jobs were added year over year and local government jobs were down 0.9%.
The Mankato-North Mankato Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is all of Blue Earth and Nicollet counties, added 639 jobs year over year, according to data released Thursday by the Department of Employment and Economic Development.
Average wages in October grew by $4.13 per hour compared to a year earlier, to $32.74 per hour.
The local area's job numbers were below the statewide figures. Minnesota added 3.6% to job numbers in October year over year.
The worker shortage remains acute locally.
There is virtually no unemployment in the local region. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in September Mankato-North Mankato had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 1.3%.
A total of 198 metro areas had September jobless rates below the U.S. rate of 3.3%.
Yuma, Arizona, had the highest unemployment rate in September at 17.1%, followed by El Centro, California, at 16%.
Minnesota gained 17,400 jobs in October, up 0.6% from September on a seasonally adjusted basis. All of that job growth came in Minnesota's private sector.
This is the 13th consecutive month of job gains in Minnesota. The U.S. gained 261,000 jobs in October, up 0.2% from September, with the private sector adding 233,000 jobs, up 0.2% on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Minnesota's unemployment rate remains historically low at 2.1%, up one-tenth of a point from September. The national unemployment rate ticked up two-tenths of a point to 3.7% from September to October.
"Minnesota had a great month for growth in October — outpacing the country in job growth by half a percentage point," DEED Commissioner Steve Grove said in a statement. "With 13 straight months of job growth on the books, we continue to differentiate ourselves as a hot job market — we just need more workers."
