Local Look blogs: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

Local Look Blog

Each month, DEED's Regional Analysis & Outreach unit produces a series of blogs exploring local labor market information. Please contact your regional analyst for more information. 

Central Minnesota: Already well known for manufacturing and food processing, there are many other industries that also make Central Minnesota unique. The region benefits from having a high concentration of employment in high-paying industries - average annual wages were higher in 7 of the region's 10 most distinguishing industries, and that’s good news for workers and communities.

Twin Cities Metro: The Twin Cities Metro Area has passed a number of key labor market milestones recently. One, the region has now added over 200,000 jobs since the low of the recession. Two, with these gains, the region has surpassed 1.7 million total covered jobs for the first time. Three, total job vacancies have reached their highest levels since 2001. Along with job gains and increasing vacancies, the region’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.2 percent, creating an extremely tight labor market.

Northeast Minnesota: Despite economic fluctuations in the region across other industries, health care and social assistance providers in Northeast Minnesota continually added jobs over the past 16 years. Health care and social assistance accounted for 16.9 percent of total jobs in 2000, but after gaining just over 10,000 jobs from 2000 to 2016, the industry now comprises 23.8 percent of total employment in the Arrowhead region, the highest share ever. 

Northwest Minnesota: Determining industry clusters in a regional economy has been an important tool of planners and policymakers for decades. Regional industry clusters show communities the nuance of their economies, identify trends, and even suggest how a community might adapt to them. 

Southeast MinnesotaThe Southeast region has always been a manufacturing powerhouse, but this industry is not at the top of the list in regard to the number of jobs in the region. Manufacturing comes in third behind trade, transportation and utilities, making up 18 percent of the 240,681 jobs in the region, and education and health services, which tops the list at 34 percent of jobs.

Southwest Minnesota: As schools let out for summer, many high school students start looking for jobs at local employers. Lucky for them, hiring activity is up in Southwest Minnesota over the past couple years as the economy has continued to expand and the labor market has grown tighter, presenting a more favorable environment for teenage job seekers.