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Northland Economy is Improving
Duluth News Tribune-9/16/15
A new St. Cloud State University study found that most economic indicators for northeastern Minnesota improved in the second quarter. The report predicts that business conditions will continue to improve over the next several months, based on improving numbers for four of five "leading economic indicators" from April through June.
Jobs Aplenty in Willmar
West Central Tribune-9/15/15
Businesses in Willmar are scrambling for workers as evidenced by the number of “help wanted’’ signs popping up along boulevards and the number of companies posting job fair announcements. “I truly believe that anybody that wants a job has a job,’’ said Mary Warszynski, general manager of Employment Plus of Willmar.
Pillars of Prosperity, a new report from the Brookings Institution, says Minnesota has a skilled labor force, good jobs in diverse industries, globally competitive companies, and abundant lakes and parks that provide a high quality of life for the people who call it home. The report added, however, that the state must adapt to fast-changing trends in the global economy to maintain its strong economy and quality of life. Go here to read the full report.
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The latest MinnesotaWorks.net blog post looks at the importance of social skills in the labor market. Nearly all job growth since 1980 has been in occupations that are relatively social skill-intensive. |
Minnesota
has the eighth-best school system in the country, according to an analysis by WalletHub. The personal finance website looked
at 13 key metrics, including the pupil-teacher ratio, dropout rates,
standardized-test scores and bullying incidents rates.
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 DEED Launches Worker Housing Program
DEED will begin accepting applications on Nov. 2 for grants awarded by the Workforce Housing Development Program. The program , which is open to cities and joint county-city economic development authorities in Greater Minnesota, provides matching funds that communities can use to encourage developers to build market-rate rental housing.
Employers Add 7,300 Jobs in August
Minnesota employers added 7,300 jobs in August, according to figures released by DEED last Thursday. Those numbers, combined with July figures that were revised upward by 2,800 jobs, brought job gains in the state to 38,037 in the past year. The state unemployment rate held steady in August at a seasonally adjusted 4 percent, compared with a U.S. unemployment rate of 5.1 percent.
Two Programs Awarded DEED Grants
Two Twin Cities programs that serve people who are deaf, hard of hearing or deafblind have each received $500,000 grants from DEED’s Vocational Rehabilitation Services unit. One of the grants went to the Minnesota Employment Center for People Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (MEC), a program that is managed by Spring Lake Park-based Rise Inc. and St. Paul-based Lifetrack Resources. The second grant went to the VECTOR Program, which is managed by Independent School District 287 in Brooklyn Park.
 Mark your calendar for the State Services for the Blind (SSB) open house on Monday, Oct. 12, at its offices at 2200 University Ave. W. in St. Paul. The event, scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m., will include tours that showcase SSB's Technology Resource Center, the inner-workings of the
Communication Center, Employment and Senior Services, the Business Enterprise
Program, the State Rehabilitation Council for the Blind, and the history of SSB
in text and pictures. RSVP
to info.ssb@state.mn.us.
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