Minnesota lost 4,400 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.5%, data from the state Department of Employment and Economic Development released Thursday show.

Most state labor force indicators saw mild signs of slowing in July, reflecting national trends. More than 1,700 Minnesotans left the labor force — and the labor force participation rate ticked down one-tenth of a percentage point to 68.1%. This measures the number of people working or actively seeking work as a percentage of the population.

But Minnesota’s over-the-year job growth was stronger than the nation as a whole, DEED said in its release Thursday. Over the past year, Minnesota gained 35,275 jobs, or 1.2%, with the private sector growing by almost 29,200 jobs, or 1.1%.

“We may now be seeing results of mass federal layoffs and funding interruptions, erratic tariffs and shrinking immigration,” said DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek in the release. “Even so, some of the favorable qualities about Minnesota’s labor market remained consistent in July, with low unemployment, significant wage growth and high labor force participation.”

Average hourly wages for the Minnesota private sector increased 99 cents to $40.09 in July over-the-month, while over-the-year average hourly earnings increased $2.44, up a notable 6.5%, DEED said. For the U.S., private sector wages decreased 4 cents over the month and grew 3.8% over the year.

Eight employment supersectors lost jobs, including Government (down 3,500 jobs, or 1.2%); Professional & Business Services (down 2,300 jobs, or 0.6%); and Trade, Transportation and Utilities (down 2,100 jobs, or 0.4%).

Most of these trends are shared by the United States as a whole: the nation’s unemployment rate is 4.2% and the labor force participation rate is 62.2%.

Of alternative measures of unemployment, the broadest, called the U-6, was flat at 7% in July but up from 5.9% a year ago, DEED said. This measure factors in people who have voluntarily left the labor force, such as stay-at-home parents, discouraged workers who have stopped seeking jobs, and part-time or otherwise marginally employed workers.

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Multiplatinum a cappella group Pentatonix will bring their Christmas in the City Tour to St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center on Nov. 20.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Aug. 22 through Ticketmaster.

Pentatonix will perform a holiday show on Nov. 20, 2025, at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. (Courtesy of Luke Fontana)

The Texas-based five-piece group won the third season of NBC’s “The Sing-Off” and a contract with Sony Music. They built a strong online following through the group’s YouTube channel, which now boasts 20.5 million subscribers.

The group’s Daft Punk medley, which has been viewed 381 million times on YouTube, won them their first of three Grammy Awards. The single also went gold, along with the group’s covers of Imagine Dragons’ “Radioactive” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”

While the group has released other covers and original songs, they’ve leaned heavily into seasonal music. In 2022, they released their seventh Christmas album, “Holidays Around the World,” and followed it up in 2023 with the compilation “The Greatest Christmas Hits.”

Pentatonix is also a popular live act. Over the past decade, they’ve played the State and Orpheum theaters, the Minnesota State Fair Grandstand and Target Center. This upcoming show will be the group’s fifth at the X.

Starting Sept. 3, Xcel Energy Center will be named Grand Casino Arena. Minnesota Sports & Entertainment and Grand Casino announced a 14-year naming rights partnership on June 17.

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By NADIA LATHAN and SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Texas Democrats on Thursday moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP’s redrawing of U.S. House maps before the 2026 election and put them under escalating threats by Republicans back home.

The Democrats announced they will return so long as Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Friday.

Democrats did not say what day they might return.

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Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott still intends to push through new maps that would give the GOP five more winnable seats before next year’s midterm elections.

Texas House Democrats said in a statement that under the advice of legal counsel, they needed to return to the state to “build a strong public legislative record” for an upcoming legal battle against a new map.

“Now, as Democrats across the nation join our fight to cause these maps to fail their political purpose, we’re prepared to bring this battle back to Texas under the right conditions and to take this fight to the courts,” said state Rep. Gene Wu, the House Democratic leader.

Lathan reported from Austin.

The NBA released its full regular-season schedule on Thursday afternoon, revealing a Timberwolves schedule that includes a home opener against Eastern Conference champion Indiana and a Christmas Day game at Denver.

The season will open with road games at Portland and against the Lakers in Los Angeles. The home opener will be Oct. 26 against the Pacers.

The Timberwolves, who advanced to the Western Conference Final for a second-straight season in 2024-25, will be on national television 28 games, seven times in ESPN, seven times in Amazon Prime, six times on NBC, four times on ABC and four times in Peacock.

Regular-season games against defending NBA champion Oklahoma City, which knocked the Timberwolves out of the playoffs, will be Prime games, Friday Dec. 19 and Thursday Jan. 29.

Two regular-season games have yet to be scheduled but will be played the week of Dec. 9-16, determined following the conclusion of the group stage games and the quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup, which begins Oct. 31 in NBA cities, with semifinals and final Dec. 13-16 in Las Vegas.

The Timberwolves are in West Group A with the Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Sacramento Kings and Utah Jazz.

For the full schedule, see the Scorecard page.