Regional Job Vacancy Results
The tight labor market that Minnesota employers had been experiencing up until the pandemic recession has returned to a much greater extent in recent months, with the state setting a record for the number of job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2021 while the number of unemployed jobseekers dropped back below pre-pandemic levels. DEED's Job Vacancy Survey shows current demand for workers in all 6 regions.
Employment in Central Minnesota has not yet recovered from the 2-month pandemic recession, but it's not from a lack of job openings. Total employment in Central is still down roughly 10,000 jobs, but there were more than 21,000 vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2021. If every opening could be filled, the recovery would be complete and the region would actually have grown employment by 4% over the pre-pandemic peak.
Despite rising concerns over high inflation and lingering supply-chain woes, demand for workers remains near record high levels. The latest numbers from DEED's Job Vacancy Survey estimated a total of 11,742 job vacancies in Northeast Minnesota in fourth quarter 2021. This was down slightly from the record high of 12,886 estimated in the previous survey period of second quarter 2021, and up more than 4,600 from fourth quarter 2020.
As with Minnesota statewide, employers in Northwest posted the highest number of job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2021 since the survey began in 2001. While we could have expected that job openings would gradually grow along with population over 20 years, the path to the current job market is the opposite of "gradual." The record vacancies reflect a tight labor market and extreme demand for workers.
Newly updated data for DEED's Job Vacancy Survey for the fourth quarter of 2021 shows that the Southeast region of the state had the highest number of job vacancies ever reported in the fourth quarter, tipping the scales at 18,827 openings. Compared to Minnesota overall, the Southeast region saw higher percentages of total vacancies in almost half (10) of the 22 occupational groups.
One of the trends that captures the unique labor market we are currently in is the steeply rising number of job vacancies. In the fourth quarter of 2021, the Southwest Minnesota region had just over 16,300 vacancies, eclipsing the pre-pandemic peak by more than 6,000 vacancies. With a job vacancy rate of 9.9%, Southwest has the highest job vacancy rate in the entire state, meaning for every 100 filled jobs, there are 9.9 unfilled jobs. Another way to think about this is in relation to those looking for work. At the end of 2021, there were three jobseekers for every ten open positions, the lowest such ratio in the 20 years of the Job Vacancy Survey, and a rapid drop over the past 10 years.
By educational attainment requirements, 38% of the Metro Area's 127,000 job vacancies required some level of postsecondary education or training beyond a high school diploma. This included 20% that required a bachelor's degree or advanced degree. In other words, nearly two-thirds of the Metro Area's job vacancies required no education beyond a high school diploma or equivalent. And this share of vacancies requiring a high school diploma or equivalent or no formal education has increased for both the region and state in recent years. This is likely due to the tight labor market, as employers look to expand their candidate pool by reducing educational requirements.
2022 Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities Conference
September 8-9, 2022 - Red Wing, MN
Entrepreneurs will help create the future of Minnesota. That's why the Connecting Entrepreneurial Communities (CEC) conference will, for the fourth year, bring together entrepreneurs, business leaders, economic development professionals, decision makers, and community champions. Together, we can create the kind of supportive networks that help entrepreneurs succeed in our communities.
REGISTRATION DEADLINE - Friday, August 19
The conference is being led by University of Minnesota Extension Center for Community Vitality, and joined by the Minnesota Small Business Development Centers, Rethos, Launch Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management, and many other organizations.
Please reach out to your regional analyst if you or your staff would be interested in having a customized LMI training session. We would be happy to accommodate your training requests, either on LMI Data Tools or local economic conditions!
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