By Kim Hyatt

Owatonna People’s Press

Unemployment rates shrank throughout southeastern Minnesota as a result of the state adding 7,300 jobs in August, according to figures released Tuesday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

DEED released statewide rates last week followed by county and large city data this Tuesday.

The rate statewide for unemployment in August was 4 percent — unchanged from July — whereas the U.S. was at 5.1 percent.

Zooming in from those large scopes to counties in southeastern Minnesota, rates are even lower over in Mower County where the number of jobless individuals dropped from 3.3 percent in July to 2.9 percent in August.

Where Mower left off is now where Dodge and Steele counties are at, with an unemployment rate in August of 3.3 percent, the same rates from back in May. Over the months of June and July both counties remained identical with rates of 3.7 percent.

Owatonna is again among the middle at 3.5 percent a slight decrease from 3.9 percent in July while Austin remained among the lowest unemployment rates with 3.1 percent.

Whereas Rice County is sitting below the state average at 3.6 percent, the city of Faribault has one of the highest unemployment rates in the area with 6 percent. Faribault hasn’t fallen below 6 percent since May when the city had a rate of 4.7 percent.

But Northfield helps hold the county up with an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent in August, a half percentage point drop from July.

Freeborn County dropped a half percentage point from last month from 4 percent to 3.5 percent.

The city of Albert Lea is a 10th of a percentage point higher than its respective county at 3.6 percent.

Likewise in Waseca County where rates fell from 4.5 percent in July to 3.9 percent in August.