It’s a first – MN labor force reaches 3M

For the first time in history,  Minnesota's labor force

surpassed the 3 million mark last month. The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) says 2600 jobs were added during March and that raised the year-over-year gain to just over 41,500. The monthly unemployment rate remained at 4.8 percent. The department also notes the Minnesota employment total is 33,000 more than the previous high point that was recorded before the beginning of the Great Recession.

The department also released figures on the state’s major metro areas and all showed positive job growth during the past 12 months - except Rochester, which had a net loss of .2 percent.