Minnesota continued to add jobs in May, according to the latest numbers from the state’s Department of Employment and Economic Development. The state agency reported Minnesota added 5,600 last month, which makes it the second straight month that jobs have been added there.

According to an analysis by the Associated Press, about 2,600, or 46 percent, of new jobs were in the private sector. The remainder came in the government sector, largely in the form of temporary Census positions.

In April, Minnesota added 10,500 jobs, of which 8,500 came in the private sector.

“It is significant that we have seen a couple months now of consecutive gains,” Steve Hine, research director at the agency, told the AP. “We haven’t seen that since that January and February of 2008, before we started to lose jobs in 2008 because of the recession.”

The unemployment rate dropped to a seasonally adjusted 7 percent, which is 2.7 percent below the national rate of 9.7 percent.