The October regional jobless rate hit its lowest point this year at 4 percent, according to data from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
The low rate is a good economic sign, but another encouraging sign emerged this month in another set of employment data. For the first time in years, all sectors of private regional employment grew or held steady, said Matthew Schoeppner, regional labor market analyst at DEED.
The unemployment rate in St. Louis, Carlton and Douglas counties -- the Duluth Metropolitan Statistical Area -- generally reaches its lowest point in October when figures are unadjusted for normal seasonal fluctuations. In October 2005, the MSA's unemployment rate was 3.9 percent -- just barely below last month's rate. That figure from a year ago was the region's lowest jobless rate since October 2001, DEED figures show.
Meanwhile, the lack of decline in any sector of private employment is welcome news, Schoeppner said. "That's definitely a turnaround from previous years," he said. "I'm a firm believer that the goods-producing sector in northern Minnesota is turning around."
Over the past decade, large regional industries such as mining have positioned themselves to compete globally, he said. "In order to do that, they've needed to cut costs dramatically and increase productivity and that has led to the [employment] decline," Schoeppner said.
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The mining industry is now seeing good times. Even better times could lie ahead with the possibility of $5 billion in investments, including a steel plant and precious metal mining, being proposed on the Iron Range, he added.
Also during the past year, government employment at all levels has fallen by 0.4 percentage points from a year ago.
The unemployment rate in Duluth last month was 3.8 percent while the state of Minnesota reported 3.3 percent and Wisconsin, 3.9 percent. The nation's October unemployment rate was 4.1 percent.
