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Business and Economic News
Dana Ferguson

Unusually warm December caused job market changes in Minnesota

A help wanted sign on a door.
A sign on the door of Stonehouse Coffee and Roastery in Nisswa, Minn., advertises job openings. Unseasonably balmy weather in December generated job losses for positions such as snowplow drivers and de-icers.
Kirsti Marohn | MPR News 2021

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Unseasonably balmy weather in December spurred some unexpected changes in Minnesota’s job market, state officials said Thursday as they released the latest batch of employment data.

Department of Employment and Economic Development officials said the warm weather and lack of snow and ice sidelined some workers temporarily, while others saw their season extended.

DEED’s Labor Market Information Director Angelina Nguyễn said the state lost 1,700 government jobs in December, all of which were in local government settings.

“Local government is responsible for things like snow removal, cloud trucks, cleaning, clearing roads, de-icing,” Nguyễn said. “Those jobs were affected because of the warmer weather.”

And the weird weather had the opposite effect on construction work, Nguyễn said. The warmer weather allowed people working in construction to continue on the job through the month, adding 1,200 jobs compared to December of 2022.

The state also recorded a lower unemployment rate last month, down to 2.9 percent. It’s the first time since June that Minnesota dropped below the 3 percent threshold. The national seasonally adjusted rate is 3.7 percent.

About 3 million people were employed last month. That’s out of a labor pool of about 3.1 million. At the same time, Minnesota’s labor force participation dropped slightly compared to November and sat at 68.1 percent.

DEED Deputy Commissioner Kevin McKinnon said the state is working on education, training and recruitment support programs to help bridge the gap between open positions and workers looking for work.

“Obviously, a decline in the labor force numbers is not what we want to see. And we’re continuing to draw more people into our labor force,” McKinnon said.

The state tracked a sixth straight month of job growth in December, with 800 positions added overall. Private sector job gains helped offset the decrease in local government jobs.

The next state job figures won’t be released until March because the agency will use February for its once-a-year internal updating of metrics it uses to measure the labor market.