According to the latest figures released, Minnesota recorded a strong growth in the jobs market during the month of December as unemployed level remained much below the national level.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) showed that the employers added a total of 9,500 jobs in December. The total number of jobs added during the previous year was recorded at the level of 45,900 in Minnesota. The data also showed that the unemployment rate remained at 4.6 percent compared to the national average of 6.7 percent. Manufacturing recorded a fall of 400 jobs but has been adding jobs during the previous four months including 1,700 in December.

The data showed that the construction industry recorded strong growth as it now has 6,500 more jobs than the previous year recording a 7.5 percent growth that is much higher than 2.2 percent recorded for the entire country in the industry. Minnesota has added nearly 177,000 jobs in the recovery and it has a record 2,797,700 jobs, which is 17,000 more than its previous high recorded in February 2008.

The state's labor force participation rate Minnesota increased for the first time in seven months in December to 70.1 percent.