ST. PAUL - Minnesota's unemployment rate remains a full two percentage points better than the national average.

Figures for September show the seasonally adjusted jobless rate for Minnesota fell to 5.8 percent, a tick lower than September. The national rate for the month was 7.8 percent.

Minnesota employers added 5,900 jobs in September, according to figures released today by the Minnesota Department Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

The agency says the unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percent to a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent, well below the U.S. rate of 7.8 percent in September.

Total jobs in Minnesota have grown by 1.3 percent in the past year, compared with a 1.4 percent growth rate nationally.

"Minnesota has recovered nearly 90,000 jobs since hitting the low point of the recession three years ago last month," said Blake Chaffee, DEED director of communications. "The labor market has been steadily improving since then, but we still have more work to do."

Deed says education and health services led all sectors last month with 5,600 new jobs. Other job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality (up 3,300), construction (up 1,500), financial activities (up 1,200), other services (up 1,100), professional and business services (up 800), trade, transportation and utilities (up 200), and logging and mining (up 200).

Job losses occurred in government (down 3,600), manufacturing (down 2,500) and information (down 1,500).

In the state Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMA), job gains occurred in the past 12 months in and around St. Cloud, Mankato, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Rochester and Duluth-Superior.

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