Minnesota gained 7,000 jobs last month, outpacing national job growth, and the state’s unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.2%, the state Department of Employment and Economic Development said Thursday.

The state unemployment rate is lower than the national rate of 3.9% and the state labor force was essentially flat in October, dipping by 84 people, the first monthly decline in eight months.

The labor force participation rate held steady for the fourth month at 68.5%. This measures the amount of people working or actively seeking work as compared with the overall adult population, and is used to calculate the benchmark unemployment rate. So the unemployment rate can rise even when more people find work if more people enter the labor force.

DEED also announced that October was the first month when the seasonally adjusted jobs estimate surpassed 3 million, at 3,001,300. Minnesota has added jobs nine out of the last 12 months.

“There are many opportunities for job seekers right now — as there have been for quite some time in Minnesota,” said DEED Deputy Commissioner Kevin McKinnon. “In October, we saw more good news in job growth, while we saw a pause in labor force growth after nearly three quarters of more and more people looking for work and landing jobs.”

Job gains by sector were seen in the Education & Health Services, 3,200 jobs; Professional & Business Services, 1,900 jobs, and Leisure & Hospitality, 1,600 jobs.

Sectors that lost jobs were Manufacturing, down 1,700 jobs, and Financial Activities, down 1,600 jobs.

By race, Black unemployment rate was 3% in October, Hispanic 6.4% and white 3.1%

A broader measure of unemployment, called the U-6, was 5.5% in October, up from 5.4% in September. This measure also takes into account people who are no longer seeking work or are under-employed.

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