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Matt Sepic
St. Paul, Minn.

MN jobless rate slips to 3.6 percent in December amid job cuts

Now hiring
The Lyman Companies booth at the Builders Association of the Twin Cities job fair includes a big "Now Hiring" sign Wednesday, May 7, 2014, in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Jennifer Simonson / MPR News 2014

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Updated 12:40 p.m. | Posted 9:53 a.m.

Minnesota's unemployment rate slipped to 3.6 percent in December, its lowest since April 2001. But not all is well on the state's job front.

As they released data showing the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains significantly lower than the 5.6 percent national rate, state officials Thursday also reported state employers cut 5,200 jobs during the month.

November's job growth numbers were also cut by 4,000 jobs, erasing most of the 6,600 gain the state had initially reported for that month.

Minnesota jobless rate
Minnesota's jobless rate through November 2014.
Courtesy of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

Job growth is up only 1.2 percent in the state from one year ago, compared with 2.2 percent nationally, the state Department of Employment Economic Development acknowledged.

The December job numbers are "disappointing," Department of Employment Economic Development Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben said in a statement.

Still she noted the unemployment rate drop occurred as more people returned to the workforce.

State labor market economist Steve Hine said most of the job cuts last month came from city and county governments.

December's jobs numbers could change in an annual revision process designed to eliminate statistical errors, he added.