Minnesota's unemployment rate held steady in July at 1.8%, tying June's unemployment rate and the lowest state unemployment rate recorded across the United States.
Last month, the state added an additional 19,000 jobs, a 0.7% increase from June. Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove shared that the state outpaced the country in job growth.
"It's more than twice the rate than the country grew in July," Grove said.
The commissioner continued by saying that the state is giving out fewer unemployment benefits as people continue to find work throughout the state.
"The big picture is we are seeing people continue to move into employment," Grove said. "We are at record lows of people who are getting unemployment benefits from our department as well as those weekly benefit requests are going down and down as people get into jobs across Minnesota."
But the economy isn't in the clear yet as inflation continues to hurt Minnesotans across the state, paying more for groceries, rent, and other necessities than ever before.
Part of the issue behind inflation is that it continues to outpace growing wages, which have increased by 5.6% statewide.
Still, Grove shared that some industries, like nursing and residential care, are up 13% this year and addressing the long-time issues in staffing across the field.
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