State Figures Illustrate MN’s Improving Jobs Market

State officials say the number of Minnesotans who received unemployment benefits last year was the lowest since before the start of the Great Recession.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says jobless benefits were paid to 178,649 Minnesotans in 2014. That number peaked during the Great Recession at over 351,000 in 2009.

"The state’s low level of unemployment benefits paid in 2014 is another indicator of the state’s economic strength,” said DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben. “With the addition of new jobs and high job vacancies, the state is focused on continuing to connect all Minnesotans with the right training for the available jobs.”

The latest jobs report from the department showed Minnesota’s unemployment rate fell to 3.7-percent in November, which is the lowest it has been since May 2001.