Rochester sees job gains in technology and manufacturing - KTTC Rochester, Austin, Mason City News, Weather and Sports

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- July marked the second month in a row Minnesota gained jobs. Despite the gains, unemployment in July climbed slightly to 5.8 percent, from 5.6 percent a month earlier.

The Minnesota Department of Employment says Minnesota added 6,800 jobs in July. 

In Rochester, job growth went up in 1.3 percent during the past 12 months. Employment has remained fairly steady during the recession in Rochester.

But Rochester is still seeing gains. 

Bruce Thompson from the Minnesota WorkForce Center reports a rise mostly in technology and manufacturing jobs.

"Over the course of the last two months, I've really seen a market increase in the number of openings for computer science folks, the higher-end high tech web administrators, designers, software engineers, we're just seeing a slew of those," Thompson said.

Minnesota has added more than 30,000 private sector jobs overall in the past year.

Government jobs dominated in July with 3,100 new openings.

Other high job growth occurred in trade, transportation and utilities.