Red Lake Nation News - Babaamaajimowinan (Telling of news in different places)

ST. PAUL – Minnesota employers reported more than 122,900 job vacancies in the second quarter of 2017, indicating the state labor market is extremely tight as baby boomers retire from the workforce and moderate job growth continues, according to figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

DEED said job vacancies were up 26 percent from the same period one year ago, when there were 97,580 vacancies statewide.

According to the figures, the Twin Cities had less than one unemployed person (0.8) for every job vacancy. In Greater Minnesota, the ratio was 1.1 unemployed people for each job vacancy.

“These figures show that hiring demand remains robust statewide because of increased business activity – and that’s good,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “However, I continue to hear from employers all across the state that it is increasingly difficult to fill open positions. At DEED, we’re working to ensure that training opportunities and other strategies are helping to match Minnesotans looking for work with the positions that businesses are looking to fill.”

The seven-county Twin Cites metro had 73,860 (60.1 percent) of the job vacancies. Greater Minnesota had the remaining 39.9 percent of the vacancies. Job vacancies were up 36.8 percent from a year ago in the Twin Cities and up 12.6 percent in Greater Minnesota.

Statewide, health care and social assistance accounted for 20 percent of the vacancies, followed by accommodation and food services (17 percent), retail trade (15 percent), manufacturing (9 percent), educational services (5 percent) and construction (5 percent).

The following were other findings of the study:

1. Forty-four percent of job vacancies were for part-time employment. Part-time is defined as fewer than 35 hours per week.

2. Fifteen percent of job vacancies were for temporary or seasonal work.

3. Thirty-two percent of vacancies required some level of post-secondary education or training beyond a high school diploma.

4. Forty-three percent of job vacancies required one or more years of work experience.

5. The median (50th percentile) wage offer for all job vacancies was $14.39 per hour.

6. Fifty-five percent of vacancies offered health insurance. Health care benefits are far less common for part-time job vacancies than for full-time job vacancies.

Go to the DEED website for more details on the second quarter 2017 Job Vacancy Survey.

DEED conducts the Job Vacancy Survey in the second and fourth quarters each year to gauge hiring demand and to determine job vacancy characteristics by industry, occupation and firm size in Minnesota.

DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit the DEED website or follow us on Twitter.