Minnesota construction employers had another busy month of hiring in February, as they created 3,200 jobs on top of the 1,900 added during the previous month, according to figures released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Across all sectors, Minnesota added 9,000 jobs in February, with the biggest gains coming from education and health services (up 4,900), trade, transportation and utilities (up 3,600) and construction.

Those gains were partially offset by losses in other sectors. The biggest monthly declines came in business and professional services (down 1,600), leisure and hospitality (down 1,000) and government (down 1,000).

Minnesota’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate held firm at 3.7 percent, compared with the national rate of 4.9 percent.

The state has gained 42,137 jobs over the past year for a 1.5 percent growth rate, which is slightly less than the national rate of 1.9 percent.

Over the past year, construction employers have added 5,847 jobs, trailing only education and health services (up 19,039), and trade, transportation and utilities (up 6,376), according to DEED.

Steve Hine, research director for DEED’s Labor Market Information Office, said the February gains put seasonally adjusted construction employment above the 120,000 mark for the first time since June 2007.

In raw, non-seasonally adjusted numbers, Minnesota gained about 600 jobs between January and February. Hine said it was the first January-to-February gain in raw numbers since DEED started tracking that data in 1990.

This year’s unseasonably mild temperatures didn’t hurt, as construction jobs are “certainly sensitive to weather conditions,” Hine added.

Hine said the annual rate of job growth in construction now stands at 6.2 percent, which is well above the national rate of 4.2 percent.

“It’s going to be more telling as we get into spring and summer months as to whether this strength we are seeing in the February numbers is going to persist,” Hine said.

Hine said it’s a “promising sign” that job performance is especially strong in the specialty trades, which are dependent in large part on people building and remodeling homes.

In the Twin Cities, overall jobs were up 1.8 percent during the month. Other regions that added jobs include Rochester (up 2.4 percent), St. Cloud (up 2.5 percent), and Mankato (up 1.4 percent), DEED said.

Duluth saw a 2 percent decrease, however.

One Twin Cities location that’s busy with construction is the former Seven Corners Hardware site at West Seventh Street and Kellogg Boulevard near the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

Minnetonka-based Opus Development says it currently has 30 to 40 people working on its “OXBŌ” mixed-use development, which includes 191 market-rate apartments and 11,000 square feet of retail.

Matt Rauenhorst, vice president of real estate development for Opus Development, said the workforce on that project will peak at more than 100 in late summer or early fall as it heads for completion in January 2017.

Rauenhorst continues to be optimistic about the local market.

“We don’t see a slowdown,” he said. “Particularly at our company, we see Twin Cities construction picking up overall in 2016.”

Robert Heise, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors Minnesota and North Dakota chapter, said the weather and the slowdown of North Dakota’s construction economy may have contributed to Minnesota’s strong February numbers.

A lot of workers from North Dakota are being “slowly absorbed back into our local workforce,” Heise said.

Speaking anecdotally, Heise said that specialty trade contractors in the state appear to be “very busy.”

“They don’t have enough workers. … That is always our dilemma,” Heise said. “They can’t make promises to general contractors that they can’t keep.”

The Jobs Picture

Minnesota year-over-year employment growth by industry sector as of February 2016

Number of Jobs Gained or Lost % change from 2015 Total Non-Farm Employment 42,137 1.5 Logging and Mining -1,379 -20 Construction 5,847 6.2 Manufacturing -410 -0.1 Trade, Trans. and Utilities 6,376 1.3 Information -907 -1.8 Financial Activities 3,800 2.1 Prof. and Bus. Services 1,323 0.4 Ed. and Health Services 19,039 3.8 Leisure and Hospitality 5,236 3.8 Other Services 2,588 2.3 Government 624 0.1

Source: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

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