by Amanda Rohrer
April 2013
Monthly analysis is based on unadjusted employment data.
Employment in the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington MSA increased 0.1 percent (1815) over the month and 1.8 percent (31,360) over the year. Over the month the strongest gains were in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 2.0 percent, 949), in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (up 0.4 percent, 1193), and in Leisure and Hospitality (up 1.4 percent, 2215). There were significant losses in Financial Activities (down 0.3 percent), 463) and Professional and Business Services (down 0.3 percent, 717). Government employment fell 0.5 percent (1321) over the month. Over the year, all major industries saw growth with the exceptions of Mining, Logging, and Construction (down 0.2 percent, 107) and Leisure and Hospitality (down 0.3 percent, 420).
Employment in the Duluth-Superior MSA increased 0.1 percent (100) over the month and 0.9 percent (1152) over the year. Significant gains were in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 3.1 percent, 225), in Other Services (up 1.2 percent, 67), and in Professional and Business Services (up 0.4 percent, 32). Significant declines occurred in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (down 0.5 percent, 129) and in Government (down 0.2 percent, 49). Over the year only a handful of industries saw declines, including Government (down 2.3 percent), Manufacturing (down 1.5 percent), Information (down 1.0 percent), and Other Services (down 0.8 percent).
Employment in the Rochester MSA increased 0.2 percent (223) over the month and 0.8 percent (840) over the year. Government employment fell 0.5 percent (48) over the month and 3.9 percent (426) over the year. In the Private Sector the monthly gains came largely from Leisure and Hospitality (up 2.0 percent, 169) and from Other Services (up 2.0 percent, 70). Over the year, gains were dominated by Educational and Health Services (up 3.1 percent, 1319).
Employment in the St. Cloud MSA increased 0.3 percent (265) over the month and 0.8 percent (775) over the year. Government employment declined 0.9 percent (141) over the month and 1.1 percent (183) over the year. In the Private Sector the largest numeric monthly gains were in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 3.8 percent, 161) and in Educational and Health Services (up 0.8 percent, 149). Over the year the largest gains were in Educational and Health Services (up 2.6 percent, 499), in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 8.3 percent, 334), and in Trade, Transportation, and Utilities (up 1.7 percent, 334).
Employment in the Mankato-North Mankato MSA declined 0.2 percent (128) over the month and increased 1.4 percent (757) over the year. The declines were driven by Private Service-Providing employment (down 0.4 percent, 146) as the Government decline of 0.5 percent (47) was balanced out by gains of 0.7 percent (65) in Goods-Producing. Over the year, Goods-Producing fared the best with gains of 4.4 percent (397).
Employment in the Fargo-Moorhead MSA increased over the month of March to 130,585 (up 0.2 percent, 237). Over the year, employment increased 3.6 percent (4,503). Government employment declined 146 (0.8 percent) over the month and 120 (0.7 percent) over the year, with most monthly losses coming from Federal and Local Government, but the annual declines came from State Government employment. In the Private Sector the largest gains were in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 5.0 percent, 361) and in Educational and Health Services (up 0.6 percent, 117). Professional and Business Services saw the largest decline, falling 1.3 percent (201) over the month.
Employment in the Grand Forks-East Grand Forks MSA fell 0.1 percent (48) over the month but increased 1.6 percent (884) over the year. Government employment fell 0.4 percent (65) over the month and 0.5 percent (69) over the year, with most of the declines coming from State Government employment and only partially balanced out by gains in Local Government employment. No one industry dominated the Private Sector change, but there were significant increases in Leisure and Hospitality (up 0.8 percent, 47) and in Mining, Logging, and Construction (up 0.7 percent, 18).