Jan. 8, 2024

The Sioux Falls metro area was among 15 places in the U.S. with jobless rates of less than 2 percent in November.

The unemployment rate for the local metro area, which includes Minnehaha, Lincoln, McCook and Turner counties, was 1.5 percent, down from 1.9 percent in October, according to the South Dakota Department of Labor & Regulation.

The lowest unemployment rate for the 389 metro areas in the U.S. was 1.3 percent for Fargo, followed by 1.4 percent for other regional metro areas: Grand Forks, Mankato-North Mankato and Rochester. The highest rate was 18.7 percent in El Centro, California.

The Sioux Falls unemployment rate, which is not seasonally adjusted and is preliminary, represents 2,551 residents 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. In October, the number of unemployed was 3,118.

The total labor force for the Sioux Falls MSA, those who are employed and unemployed, was 167,551 in November, up from 166,955 the previous month.

A year ago, the metro area jobless rate was 1.6 percent, with 2,661 people who were unemployed out of a labor force of 162,416.

The number of job openings in the Sioux Falls MSA rose to 14,230 in November, according to the state’s virtual labor market data system. There were 13,982 open positions the previous month. A year ago, there were 16,651 openings.

Nonfarm wage and salaried worker levels in the Sioux Falls MSA rose by 1,000 people to 175,000. Transportation, warehousing and utilities saw the biggest increase at 1.6 percent. Several categories of workers remained flat, but none showed a decline.

Compared with a year ago, overall nonfarm wage and salaried worker levels were up 3 percent in the MSA.

South Dakota’s unemployment rate was unchanged at 2 percent in November. The only states with lower rates were Maryland at 1.8 percent and North Dakota at 1.9 percent.

The state’s jobless rate, which is seasonally adjusted, represents 9,900 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, according to the state Labor Department. A year ago, the rate was 2.2 percent, and there were 10,400 unemployed South Dakotans.

In November, South Dakota’s labor force also was unchanged at 485,200. A year ago, it was 475,000.

The labor supply, those who would be available to staff a new or expanding business, was estimated at 50,350 people. That’s down from 52,400 in October and includes people who are not working and those who would like to change jobs.

The national unemployment rate was 3.7 percent in November, down from 3.9 percent in October. A year ago, the rate was 3.6 percent.