Local Look - Regional Responses

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Local Look Regional Data

Labor Market Information

Your Regional Local Look

Twin Cities

For those job seekers living in the Seven-County Metro Area, and around Minnesota, many of the numerous options for workers seeking to find employment or transition into a new job can be found online at CareerForceMN.com.

Central Minnesota

The number of new Unemployment Insurance (UI) applications have rapidly declined over the past few months following the unprecedented surge in the weeks following the issuance of executive orders to slow the spread of COVID-19 during the second half of March. Though down from April, in May, Central Minnesota's initial UI applications were still about 800% higher than May 2019, amounting to more than 14,700 applications.

Northeast Minnesota

Much coverage has been given to the disproportionate impacts of the coronavirus pandemic across different demographic groups. Women, people of color, the less educated, and younger workers have all applied for unemployment benefits at higher rates across the country, state—and here in Northeast Minnesota. As businesses re-open or ramp-up operations, these workers will likely face differing obstacles. This is due in large part to their concentration in occupations that don't allow work from home and/or require work in close proximity to customers or others..

Northwest Minnesota

Northwest Minnesota, like the state and nation, experienced a sharp increase in UI applications at the start of the pandemic response, with over 10,000 regional residents applying in both the last week of March and the first week of April. Those were historically high numbers.

Southeast Minnesota

Looking at race and ethnicity, workers who identify as white and non-Hispanic made up the vast majority of UI applications in early weeks in Southeast Minnesota, while UI applications for People of Color surged in the second and third weeks. Since the peak, the overall decline in UI applications seen by non-Hispanic Whites was much larger than that seen by People of Color.

Southwest Minnesota

When unemployment rates were released for May of 2020, the state of Minnesota saw an increase from April, up to 9.9%, the highest rate reported since modern records started in 1976. Rates rose in Southwest Minnesota as well, but at just 6.6%, the region showed the lowest unemployment of the six planning areas in the state. Southwest Minnesota was home to 13 of the 20 lowest county unemployment rates in the state.


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.

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