Eyes on Minnesota jobless data
Nearly two full years since the economy officially fell into recession, Minnesota seems to be crawling, slowly toward recovery. MPR's Chris Farrell will be looking for clues to the job's market direction Thursday when the latest Minnesota unemployment numbers come out.
The jobless rate's at 7.6 percent unemployment currently and there's some hope we'll see some real jobs gains in the November data released onThursday, Farrell, MPR's chief economics correspondent, said today on MPR's Morning Edition, where he share his insights on the Minnesota and national economies each Monday.
Click on the play button below to listen.
Even if the jobless rate creeps up, Farrell noted it could be a positive sign -- discouraged workers re-entering the job market to search again.
Farrell also sees some potential positives in the recent announcement that Twin Cities-based brokerage Piper Jaffray plans to hire as many as 60 bankers.
The new banker jobs won't all be in the Twin Cities "but I think it's a really good sign. They're saying that 2010 is going to be a better year. That might not be saying much in light of what the financial markets have been," he added, "But still it's a good sign, little bit of hiring, little bit of positive."
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