June 29, 2022

The unemployment rate in the Sioux Falls metro area was 1.9 percent in May, unchanged from April.

The jobless rate remains at the lowest point it has been since September 2018, according to statistics from the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation.

The unemployment rate, which isn’t seasonally adjusted, represents 3,092 residents in the four-county MSA who do not have jobs, have actively looked for one in the past four weeks and are available to work. It also includes those who have been laid off temporarily. The total labor force, those who are employed and unemployed, was 163,003, up from 161,912 in April.

A year ago, there were 4,291 people who were unemployed out of a labor force of 153,901.

Nonfarm wage and salaried worker levels in the metro area rose from April to May by 2,800 people to 167,400, a gain of 1.7 percent. The category of leisure and hospitality saw the biggest increase at 6.6 percent, a gain of 1,000 workers from April. Mining, logging and construction added 500 workers, an increase of 4.6 percent.

Retail trade, a subcategory of trade, transportation and utilities, was the only industry to see a decline with a loss of 300 workers, a drop of 1.6 percent from the previous month.

Compared with a year ago, nonfarm wage and salaried worker levels were up 3 percent in the Sioux Falls area.

The statewide unemployment rate for May, which is seasonally adjusted, also remained unchanged at 2.3 percent.

That rate represents 10,700 people who do not have jobs, have actively looked for one in the past four weeks and are available to work, along with those laid off temporarily. A year ago, the rate was 3.2 percent, and there were 14,900 unemployed South Dakotans.

The statewide labor force has grown in the past year from 467,700 to 475,700.

The national unemployment rate in May was unchanged from April at 3.6 percent. A year ago, it was 5.8 percent.