ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) - No Minnesota state employees had to be laid off as a result of the now-finished federal government shutdown.

The shutdown ended early Thursday not long after the U.S. Congress passed a bill to reopen government and lift the U.S. debt ceiling. Minnesota's Management and Budget office announced afterward that it did not have to resort to layoffs of state employees.

State officials had announced earlier that more than 3,000 state employees whose salaries are at least partially covered by federal funds could have been in danger of losing jobs in a protracted shutdown.

The budget office had reached a tentative agreement regarding layoff issues with the largest state employee unions, though it had not yet been ratified by union membership.

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