That comes even after employers cut 13,000 jobs in that same month. While this dip is good news for the state, it could cost the unemployed their emergency benefits
The Federal Unemployment Benefits are set to expire over the next few weeks, and unless congress extends them, some 15,000 Minnesotans will need another source of income.
"We're pretty steady people come in here for a lot of different reasons," said Michael Haney, Workforce Center Manager.
At the Minnesota Workforce Center in Rochester, despite the drop in unemployment, they are still seeing many in need of unemployment benefits.
"Their reactions are they get a feeling of what is it that is available for them," said Scott Metcalf, Veteran Employment Services.
But because of the drop, Minnesotans may no longer qualify for extended unemployment benefits.
"All the extended benefits are tied into the unemployment rate, and so there are several different extensions, and all are tied into whether or not the state has an unemployment rate of a certain amount."
Currently, the law allows states to extend unemployment benefits if the unemployment rate is more than 6.5 percent. Governor Dayton wrote to congress to not only urge them to extend the benefits that expire at the end of the year, but to lower that rate to 5.5 percent.
"I think what Governor Dayton is saying is don't penalize those states that are working really hard at getting people back to work."
Without a change, thousands of Minnesotans could see their benefits window narrowed. But it also all depends on what congess decides with the extension of unemployment benefits overall.
The existing program of jobless benefits consists of a complex series of extensions to state-managed unemployment insurance that is paid for, in part, with premiums deducted from workers’ paychecks. As the jobless rate rose following the 2007 recession, Congress enacted series of those emergency extensions – or tiers – to the state-funded plans that typically provide 26 weeks of benefits.
There are four tiers of extended benefits. The Republican plan would maintain the first, 20-week, tier and cut the second one, now available in states with a jobless rate above 6 percent, by one week, to 13 weeks. The current third and fourth tiers, which provide as much as 19 weeks in states where the jobless rate is 8.5 percent or higher, would be eliminated. A separate Extended Benefits program can add as much as another 20 weeks, depending on the jobless rate in the state. That program would expire gradually, state by state, through 2012.
Despite recent signs of improvement in the job market, the unemployment rate has remained stubbornly high compared to past economic recoveries. That’s especially true for people out of work for extended periods. The jobless rate has exceeded 8.5 percent for the past 31 months, longer than at any time since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking that rate in 1948. The average duration of unemployment now stands at nearly 41 weeks, according to the latest monthly jobs data.
That number will likely remain stubbornly high until the economic recovery spreads to several critical industries that haven't been hiring. Those sector aren't adding jobs because they’re “structurally impaired,” according to a recent research report from economists at Credit Suisse. And it looks like they’re going to remain crippled for some time.
From real estate, to finance to manufacturing, these sectors have all but shut down as job-creators. Together, these industries account for about half of the jobs lost from the January 2008 peak to the January 2010 trough. With little or no job growth from these sectors, it’s as if half of the job market’s cylinders just aren’t firing.
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