Minnesota To Release January Jobless Figures

ST. PAUL (AP) - Minnesota releases preliminary jobless figures for January on Wednesday, and they may show an improvement from the 7 percent reported a month ago.

Steve Hine, a labor market analyst with the Department of Employment and Economic Development, says the economy has been on an upward trajectory in recent months, but the recovery has not been robust.

He says January is typically a low employment month, but the new numbers may need to be viewed with caution because it's becoming harder to separate out seasonal variations.

Preliminary figures released last month for December painted a mixed picture, with unemployment dipping below 7 percent while at the same time indicating the state lost more than 22,000 jobs. Hine says he anticipates the revised December data will show that the loss was overstated.

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