Minnesota adds 3,400 jobs in October; unemployment holds at 2.8 percent

Overall hiring is slower in Minnesota than last year, but it hasn’t topped out yet.

Minnesota employers, contending with an ultratight labor market, have added jobs at a slower rate this year than last. But new data Thursday showed they are still finding some people to hire.

Minnesota added 3,400 jobs to its workforce of nearly 3 million people last month, the state jobs agency said. And the unemployment rate in October held at 2.8 percent — a level it reached in September for the first time since May 1999.

“With an overall 2.8 percent unemployment, employers are working harder to attract and retain talent,” Shawntera Hardy, commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, said in a statement.

View the complte November 15 article by Evan Ramstad on The Star Tribunehere. website