US Job Growth

[Ban my account ffs!]

MN's unemployment rate has "fallen through teh floor".. after having been right up there with the national rate, things changed this past summer as we peaked just under 9%...

For October we were down to 6.9%.

For my county, unemployment is 0.9 points higher this October than last October (I could only find unadjusted numbers)...

But it should be noted that the decrease from the normal peak of unemployment in January to the usual bottom in October has been much stronger than usual, hinting at recovery in jobs.  January 2009's unemployment rate was 3.5 points higher than a year before while October was only 0.9 points higher.

My county has surpassed Ramsey County (where St. Paul is located) in unemployment numbers for the first time at least since 1990. 

The reason is the huge Enbridge pipeline being built from the oil sands of northern Alberta to Duluth-Superior from which the oil can be transported to refiners all over the world.

Minnesota has the odd distinction of being the largest refiner of oil for a state that produces no oil of its own.  We are at a strategic position since shipping oil by boat is cheaper than through a pipe or by truck or train.. and thus the port at Duluth/Superior being nearly in the middle of the North American continent with access to the world is hugely important.

The United States is importing more and more oil from Canada and Canada, if not already, will become our largest source of foreign oil.  Since prices are relatively stable in Canada thanks to it not being an unstable hellhole, Minnesota enjoyed a much smaller spike in gas prices in the big spike in 2008.