Minnesota lost a net 700 jobs in February, effectively flat over the month, and the state’s unemployment rate stayed at 3.0% for the fifth month in a row, the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development said in a news release Thursday.

This compares with January, when the state added 9,600 jobs, according to a DEED release last week.

“Overall Minnesota continues to have a strong labor market with jobs numbers remaining stable in February,” said DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek in the release. “And over the year job growth is solid at 1.4% in Minnesota, outpacing the national rate of 1.3%. This is good news both for employers and our labor force.”

The state’s unemployment rate compares with a national unemployment rate of 4.1%. Minnesota’s labor force participation rate also stayed steady at 68.1% in February, compared with 62.4% nationally. This measures the percentage of working age people in the state either employed or actively seeking a job and is used to calculate the headline unemployment rate.

Over the past 12 months, Minnesota employers added 40,600 jobs — job growth that was faster than the nation in terms of total non-farm employment as well as private sector employment.

Five of the 11 supersectors in the state gained jobs in February, led by strong months for Education & Health Services (up 2,100 jobs), Professional & Business Services (1,900 jobs) and Manufacturing (600 jobs). Five supersectors lost jobs, with Leisure and Hospitality (2,900), and Trade, Transportation & Utilities (1,600) posting the highest decreases. Government lost 400 jobs over the month.

Wages in Minnesota continued to be strong in February, rising more than double the rate of inflation, according to DEED.

Of alternative measures of unemployment, the broadest, called the U-6, increased to 6.6% in February, flat with January. This measure factors in people who have voluntarily left the labor force, such as stay-at-home parents, discouraged workers who have stopped seeking jobs, and part-time or otherwise marginally employed workers.

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