minnesota unemployment

Minnesota's unemployment rate hit 8.4 percent in June, the highest seasonally adjusted monthly state unemployment rate in over 25 years. Measured in terms of the unemployment rate increase from the start of the recession, the current recession has become the worst of any recession since compilation of data began in 1976 and possibly the worse of any recession in the post-World War II era.

The term "jobless recovery" originated in the early 1990s as a description of the recovery to the 1990 recession. Four years after the start of the 1990 recession, the national unemployment rate was still higher than at the beginning of the recession. However, this was not the case in Minnesota. Four years out from the start of the 1990 recession, Minnesota's unemployment rate was considerably below what it was at the beginning of the recession (the yellow line). Bolstered by a diverse economy and a sustained level of public investment, the recovery to the 1990 recession was not "jobless" in Minnesota.

Until the current recession, the worst recession in Minnesota measured in terms of the unemployment rate increase was that of 1981. From the start of the 1981 recession to its peak, the Minnesota unemployment increased by 3.5 percent (the light blue line). The Minnesota unemployment rate increase since the start of the current recession hit 3.6 percent based on recently released June numbers (the red line).

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