By Annie Baxter, Minnesota Public Radio News

Minnesota businesses continued to add jobs at a stronger rate than the national average in August.

Minnesota’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 7.2 percent, but employers added 5,800 jobs last month.

Economists say that news is encouraging. But they question whether those gains will continue given a weak national economy.

Technically, the state added more than 28,000 jobs last month, but that number largely reflects laid-off government workers going back to work following the state government shutdown in July.

“Looking beyond that, looking at the private sector gains, August continued to be a pretty good month,” said Steve Hine, the state’s head labor market analyst.

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