ST. PAUL (AP) - Governor Mark Dayton starts a statewide jobs tour next week hoping to build a legacy as a jobs governor, with last month's government shutdown behind him.

The first-term Democrat will kick off the tour in Fergus Falls on Wednesday.

Dayton says he will make job creation his priority for the rest of his term, which runs through 2014. He says he will "go anywhere, call anybody, do what I can."

Mirroring President Barack Obama's recent emphasis on jobs, Dayton will host a series of regional meetings leading up to a statewide jobs summit in St. Paul.

More than 200,000 Minnesota residents are out of work.

The 20-day shutdown temporarily added 22,000 state employees to the jobless and caused the state's unemployment rate to jump to 7.2 percent in July.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

 

 

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