Mn DEED

Outside of the Twin Cities area, the other large metropolitan areas of Minnesota also saw job losses.

Houston County at the lowest jobless rate in southeastern Minnesota in July.

After huge gains in the past couple of years, Rochester's annualized job growth rate in July was only 0.3%.

Seasonal factors contributed, but the latest statistics show overall employment as drop by about 4000 from the record high reached last summer.

2 counties in the region saw unemployment approaching 6% during the first month of the year.

The report shows Minnesota job growth was flat during the first month of this year.

For a third straight year, the valuation of new construction a Rochester topped $1 billion.

Local job growth remained strong but was outpaced by an increase in the number of workers.

The local job growth rate still far outpaced the rest of the state and its other largest cities.

More than $17 million in grants were awarded statewide.