(St.Paul, MN)  --  Minnesota's unemployment rate held steady at seven percent in September, according to figures released Thursday by the Department of Employment and Economic Development.  Officials say employers trimmed nearly ten-thousand jobs during September. Construction gained just over three-thousand jobs, more than it has since April 2005, and manufacturing added jobs for the fourth consecutive month.  Minnesota's state unemployment rate remains well below the national rate which stood unchanged at nine-point-six-percent percent in September.