Hospitality passes construction for fastest job growth.

Byline: William Morris

Move over, construction: the building industry is no longer the fastest-growing segment in Minnesota.

In its seasonally adjusted monthly job report Thursday, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development reported the state added 7,400 jobs in October, with unemployment stable at 3.2%. More than half of those new jobs, 4,900, were in the fields of leisure and hospitality, including restaurants, hotels and resorts.

That brings job gains in leisure and hospitality to 13,825 in the past 12 months, leading all other industry groups with a year-over-year growth rate of 5.1%. It's the first time construction has not had the top growth rate since August 2018, when it was briefly eclipsed by logging and mining, and before that May 2018 when the top spot was held by education and health services, said Oriane Casale, interim director of DEED's labor market information office.

Number of jobs gained or lost

% change from 2018

Total nonfarm

12,575

0.4

Total Private

10,961

0.4

Logging and Mining

220

3.2

Construction

4,276

3.2

Manufacturing

881

0.3

Trade, Transport. and Utilities

2,982

0.6

Information

-3,610

-7.4

Financial Activities

2,588

1.4

Prof. and Business Services

-4,602

-1.2

Ed. and Health Services

-5,666

-1.0

Leisure and Hospitality

13,825

5.1

Other Services

67

0.1

Source: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development

Construction, which briefly topped 10% annual growth in April, added 800 jobs in October and now sits at 3.2% annual growth.

"Leisure and hospitality has been increasing, really driving growth for a number of months now," Casale said in an interview, noting that construction's rapid growth this year came reflects in part a rebound in the spring of 2018.

The strong leisure and hospitality growth likely reflects a favorable market for both hoteliers and restauranteurs, said Steve Sherf, president of the Excelsior-based Hospitality Consulting Group.

"We've seen almost an unprecedented growth in hotels in the last 5 years or so. They are not largely labor-intensive, but each hotel probably employs 20 or 25 people, the limited-service ones," Sherf said. "I would think there's probably a bigger growth in the restaurant side of it, just because of the rise of popularity of the quick-serve restaurants, and the rise in people eating breakfast out."

Hospitality Minnesota, an umbrella trade association for leisure and hospitality businesses, expects that growth to continue, and is investing...