UNEMPLOYMENT TICKS UP ONE-TENTH OF A PERCENT

(Learfield)  The Department of Employment and Economic Development is releasing February job numbers for the state. Commissioner Matt Varilek Minnesota’s unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point to 4.5% in February. “in Minnesota” (Minnesota’s labor force decreased by 8,575 people over the month, and the labor force participation rate ticked down three-tenths of a percent to 67.9%, both of which almost certainly would be tied to ice activity in Minnesota) DEED says job number reports will be caught up at the end of the month when they release March numbers. Reports from the Bureau of Labor Statistics had been delayed due to last fall’s federal government shutdown.