Labor Market Information
In 2019, there were 84,632 establishments in the Twin Cities Metro Area supplying just over 1,773,000 jobs. Prior to the first quarter of 2020, the Metro Area added nearly 10,800 jobs over the past year, growing by 0.6%. Since then, measures taken to slow the spread of COVID-19 have had larger impacts on certain industries; among the most impacted include Accommodation and Food Services (notably restaurants and bars); Personal Care Services; Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation; and more recently Retail Trade and Construction.
While a large majority of Central Minnesota’s labor force experienced the Great Recession in 2009, including thousands that suffered layoffs and unemployment, two age groups of workers in particular are experiencing this labor market unrest for the first time — teenagers and young adults from 20 to 24 years. So far, nearly 11,000 workers under 25 years of age have filed Unemployment Insurance claims in Central Minnesota – these workers weren’t even in the labor force in 2009.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) applications in Northeast Minnesota followed many of the same trends as the state overall. During the first week of March 16-21, almost half of all the UI applications were from those working in Food Preparation & Serving Related occupations. Whereas the absolute numbers of UI applications in all occupations declined week over week, Food Preparation & Serving Related remained the occupational group with largest overall share, accounting for nearly a quarter of all claims in the region between March 16 and April 25.
Through April 25, about 46,000 applications for Unemployment Insurance (UI) had been filed by residents of Northwest Minnesota. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is a lot. For perspective, in the entire year of 2019, the region saw a total of just 22,820 UI claims. In 2009, during the peak of the Great Recession, the region suffered 49,841 UI claims for the year.
In all, from March 16 through April 25, just over 40,300 workers in the Southeast region submitted Unemployment Insurance (UI) applications, with the highest number of applications occurring the week ending on April 4. After rising rapidly the first three weeks, thankfully the number of UI applications has seen a decline in subsequent weeks, dropping from 7,938 during the week ending on April 4 to 4,657 during the week ending on April 25, a drop of 38.5%.
Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims activity has been very different in 2020 compared to past years. For example, data show that just over two-thirds of UI claims filed in March 2009, during the Great Recession, were filed by males; while the percentages are flipped in 2020, with nearly two-thirds of UI claims filed by females. In March 2009, the most impacted jobs were in the male-dominated Manufacturing and Construction industries. In March 2020, most UI claims were in the female dominated Accommodation and Food Services, Personal Care Services, and Health Care and Social Assistance industries.
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