Bob CollinsThere wasn’t much meat in the headline today that Minnesota’s unemployment rate has gone up again.
The August rate jumped to 6.2 percent. That means 3,200 jobs were lost in August; 8,200 have disappeared over the last year.
Some areas of the economy are picking up jobs, however. Trade, transportation, utilities, education, and healths services have all picked up. The financial sector also has picked up over the last year although it seems with the collapse of the markets and the industry this week, that’s a trend that will be difficult to continue.
The weak side of the picture are profession and business services, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality, construction, and information.
For every job that’s available, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development, there are 2.9 people looking for one.
But, there are jobs available. Almost 20,000 are posted on the department’s Web site. But, in a sign of a struggling economy, nearly 46,000 people have posted their resumes.
Regionally, the picture is darker.
On the Arrowhead, for example, the most widely available job — telemarketer — pays well below average wages, according to DEED. On the other hand, the second-most-available — nurses — pays well above average. In West-Central, nine of the top 10 most-available jobs pay less than $25,000 a year (nurse, at #10, pays more than $50,000).
In the southwest corner of the state, four of the top five most-available jobs pay less than $18,000. You can work in a meat-packing plant fairly easily, and make $14, 412 a year.
And in North Central Minnesota, five of the top six jobs pay less than $19,000 a year (The exception?You guessed it: nurse).
Minnesota Public Radio News reporters are looking for some insights from people who live in Minnesota and want to tell us about the state of their local economies and how (if?) if it’s being affected by what’s going on nationally.
