Minnesota's Job Market Shifts: Unemployment Rises Above National Average for First Time in Two Decades

Minnesota's Job Market Shifts: Unemployment Rises Above National Average for First Time in Two Decades

From Minneapolis Job Market Report by Inception Point Ai

April 3, 2026 · 3 min

About this episode

The episode discusses the recent rise in Minnesota's unemployment rate and the challenges facing the job market in the Twin Cities.

Minneapolis faces a challenging job market as of January 2026, with the Twin Cities metropolitan area losing nearly two thousand jobs compared to the previous year. Minnesota's unemployment rate reached four point four percent, surpassing the national rate of four point three percent for the first time in nearly twenty years. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, this marks a significant shift, as the state's jobless rate had historically remained well below the national average. The overall job growth across Minnesota remained flat for the month, though the state gained thirteen thousand one hundred forty-seven payroll jobs over the past year, representing a modest zero point four percent increase. The labor market shows mixed signals across different sectors. Educational and health services emerged as the strongest performer, adding five thousand new positions, while construction gained thirty-seven hundred jobs. However, leisure and hospitality experienced the steepest decline, losing four thousand positions, followed by trade, transportation and utilities, which shed twenty-five hundred jobs. Financial activities also contracted…

Topics covered

  • job market
  • unemployment
  • economic trends
  • Minnesota
  • employment statistics
  • labor market
  • job growth

Keywords

  • Minnesota
  • unemployment rate
  • job market
  • employment
  • job growth
  • labor force
  • economic trends

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Places: Minnesota, Twin Cities

More episodes of Minneapolis Job Market Report

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Minneapolis Job Market Report podcast page.