Minnesota unemployment rate unchanged in December

ST. PAUL (AP) -- Minnesota's adjusted unemployment rate of 2.4 percent in December matched the rate recorded in November, the Department of Economic Security reported today.

The figure was the same as the adjusted unemployment rate for December 1998. It marks the 27th consecutive month that unemployment has stayed at or below 3 percent in Minnesota.

Libby Starling, an agency spokeswoman, said the rate is about what economists expected, although it is slightly off the all-time low of 2.1 percent recorded in April.

Construction jobs represented the biggest gain, with 2,700 new jobs added to the seasonally adjusted count.