Hibbing Daily Tribune
Charles Ramsay

Unemployment figures on the Iron Range continued to be mixed in August, with Virginia slightly up and Hibbing and Grand Rapids slightly down.

However, statewide figures supplied by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development showed logging and mining jobs had declined by 300 for the month.

Duluth News Tribune
Candace Renalls

“The big story is there’s a lot of jobs at the top end and bottom end, but not a lot of jobs in the middle,” said Drew Digby, the region’s labor analyst for DEED. “There is a continuing squeeze for manufacturing and government jobs while classic middle class jobs, like teachers, will be harder and harder to get.”