Local Look blogs: Career Planning

Locla Look

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.  

Twin Cities MetroHennepin County is Minnesota's most-populated and largest-employing county. With 1,237,604 people, it accounted for 40.7 percent of the Seven-County Twin Cities Metro Area's population and 22.4 percent of the entire state's population. It has more than twice as many people as the state's second most-populated county, Ramsey County, and is more populated than the state's 66 least-populated counties combined.

Central MinnesotaEmployers in Central Minnesota now provide more than 270,000 jobs, and are actively seeking new workers to fill open positions. Graduating from high school is an important first step, but from there the path to workforce success can go in many directions. Students and job seekers can go straight to work, into the military, on to college, start an apprenticeship, or something else, depending on their career goals. 

Northeast Minnesota: There are many pathways into the labor market - some are short-term solutions, while others are long-term decisions. There are costs and benefits to every approach, and there are practical steps that students and job seekers can take to make the most out of their career planning and educational investment. DEED worked with local partners including the Northeast Rural Career Counseling Coordinator to produce a handout that helps explain the career planning process in more detail.

Northwest Minnesota: In 2017, both WalletHub and the Institute on Women's Policy Research came to the same conclusion: Minnesota is the best state for women to live and work. They cite several reasons for the distinction, including economic and social well-being and health and safety; but despite that, data shows that a stubborn gender wage gap persists across the state. The same trends exist in Northwest Minnesota, where healthcare is an influential industry and employs a high number of women.

Southeast Minnesota: Crime is inevitable in today's world – and Minnesota is not immune from its adverse fallout. Southeast Minnesota has hundreds of employees who work in corrections and public safety, including 970 correctional officers and jailers and an additional 900 police and sheriff's patrol officers.

Southwest MinnesotaWhile data show that hourly wages rise for each additional level of education completed, a handout created by DEED and the Southwest Minnesota Private Industry Council and the South Central Workforce Council also demonstrate that there are opportunities for jobs that provide livable wages at every level of education, including many that boast strong current and future demand in the Southwest region of the state.