Minnesota loses 10,000 jobs in April

St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota's economy lost about 10,000 jobs in April, and the unemployment rate inched up. The state's jobless rate increased a tenth of a point to 4.8 percent. That's still below the national unemployment rate of 5 percent.

Oriane Casale of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development said payrolls usually grow in April as employers begin hiring for the summer.

"Obviously, this April didn't deliver in terms of warm weather," Casale said. "We were still sort of solidly in winter. And so that could explain some of the seasonally adjusted job decline. We just didn't see the hiring we expected to see in April."

Over the past year the biggest job declines came in the construction industry, which shed 4,500 jobs, mostly due to softness in the residential construction market.

The education and health services sector continues to lead job growth. The sector added more than 13,000 jobs.