Local Look blogs - Exploring Areas of Growth

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: Governor Tim Walz recently released his Budget for One Minnesota, with one of three focus areas being Education. Whether or not you agree with the specifics of the budget proposal, one thing should be clear: educational services are vital to the economy and people of the Twin Cities metro area.

CENTRAL MINNESOTA: It is important to understand areas of the economy experiencing job losses during this extended economic expansion. While declining employment was common during the recession from 2008 to 2010, most industries have recovered. However, a handful of industries in Central Minnesota have remained in decline, or are continuing a long-term downward employment trend.

NORTHEAST MINNESOTA: Northeast Minnesota’s median household income climbed to $51,626 in 2017, a steady 3.9 percent increase over the previous year that matched the state’s annual income growth rate exactly. Economic growth in the Arrowhead led to notable declines in the percentage of households that were earning less than $50,000 per year.

NORTHWEST MINNESOTA: According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, Northwest Minnesota is now home to 12,000 foreign born residents, or about 2.1 percent of the total population. The number of immigrants in the region increased by 13.3 percent from 2010 to 2017, which is helping the region's labor force continue growing.

SOUTHEAST MINNESOTA: Besides being some of the highest paying occupations in the region, most computer-related jobs are also in high demand in Southeast Minnesota. There are 11 computer occupations showing high demand, and many are also expected to see growth over the 2016 to 2026 projection period in DEED’s Employment Outlook tool.

SOUTHWEST MINNESOTA: Like the state, millennials were the largest generation in Southwest Minnesota, but the generation gap was much smaller. In fact, baby boomers were still the second largest generation in the region, just ahead of Generation Z, and nearly 21,500 people larger than Generation X. DEED created an interactive visualization that provides insight into the estimated size of the generations in each region and county of the state for 2017.