Furs, wheat, pine lumber, and high-grade iron ore were once the basis of Minnesota's economy. As these resources diminished, however, the state turned to wood pulp, dairy products, corn and soybeans, taconite, and manufacturing, often in such food-related industries as meat-packing, canning, and the processing of dairy products. The leading sources of income in Minnesota have shifted again in recent years. Manufacturing as a percent of total state output fell from 18.5% in 1997 to 15.8% in 2001, a relative decline accelerated by a –8.2% fall in manufacturing output in 2001. Net growth in manufacturing output 1997 to 2001 was 5.8% compared to an output growth of 32.5% from general services; 27.9% from the trade sector; 26.1% from financial services; and 25.8% from government services. Minnesota's economy grew robustly at the end of the 1990—7% in 1997; 5.2% in 1999, and 8.5% in 2000—, but the annual growth rate plummeted to 1% in the recession of 2001. In 2002, employment declined more rapidly than in the country as a whole because of the large share of Minnesota workers in sectors most affected by the national slowdown: manufacturing, information technology and airline industries. Office vacancy rates in metropolitan areas increased from 12.2% in 2001 to 19.6% in 2002, above the national average of 16.5%. On the other hand, having escaped the drought conditions that afflicted many other states, corn and soybean harvests were large in 2002, and Minnesota growers were in a position to benefit from drought-induced higher prices for both crops. The dairy sector, however, faced historically low prices, increasing the number of dairy producers leaving the industry.
Minnesota's gross state product in 2001 was $188.1 billion, the 17th largest among the states, to which general services contributed $40.6 billion; financial services, $36.3 billion; trade, $33.7 billion; manufacturing, $29.8 billion; government, 20.2 billion; transportation and public utilities, $!3.5 billion, and construction, $10 billion. In 2001, the public sector constituted 10.8% of the gross state product.