Minnesota’s Unemployment Rate at 7.7 Percent

UNDATED -- Minnesota's unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent in July. That's down from 8.6 percent in June. Nationally the unemployment rate is at 10.2 percent.

Based on six-month moving averages, the unemployment rate for black Minnesotans is 15.3 percent, for Hispanic Minnesotans it's 8.6 percent, and for white Minnesotans it's 6.3 percent.

Wisconsin's unemployment rate dropped from 8.6% in June to 7% in July. The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday that Wisconsin added 25,000 private-sector jobs in July.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says the state added 32,500 jobs in July with leisure and hospitality up 17,200, arts and entertainment gaining 4,900 jobs, and health care adding 3,700 jobs.

Year over year from July 2019 to July 2020 the St. Cloud metro area is down about 3,400 jobs, or down about 3.1 percent.

The Mankato metro area is down nearly 800 jobs year over year, the Rochester area is down about 10,000 jobs, the Duluth area is down about 12,600 jobs.

The number of laid-off workers seeking U.S. unemployment benefits rose to 1.1 million last week after two weeks of declines, evidence that employers are still cutting large numbers of jobs as the coronavirus bedevils the U.S. economy.

The latest figures suggest that more than five months after the viral outbreak erupted the economy is still weak, despite recent gains as some businesses reopen and some sectors like housing and manufacturing have rebounded.

A rising number of people who have lost jobs say they consider their loss to be permanent.