St. Cloud Metro Area Unemployment Rate Jumps in December [AUDIO]

ST. CLOUD - The unemployment rate in the St. Cloud metro area jumped last month.

The Department of Employment and Economic Development says the local unemployment rate for December was 5.7%, that's up almost a full point from the 4.8% we had in November.

St. Cloud State University Economics Professor King Banaian says the reason for the jump is because our local numbers are not seasonally adjusted.  He says if you compare the statewide not seasonally adjusted numbers, you'll see a similar rise from 5.0 to 5.7%.

Banaian says it's typical to see this type of an increase, and he says we can expect the local unemployment to go a bit higher again this month.  He says the natural pattern will bring it back down again as we approach spring.