Minnesota Regions Reveal Diverse Labor Market Trends
This month's Local Look blogs uncover a mosaic of regional economic and workforce developments. Central and Southeast Minnesota both saw job growth overall, but that masked sharper industry-level shifts. The Twin Cities and Northeast Minnesota highlight the value veterans bring to the workforce. Northwest Minnesota grappled with declining school enrollment even as retirements and exits sustain high demand for teachers, while Southwest prepared for nearly 5,000 graduating seniors, marking an important milestone for the region’s future talent pipeline. For more information, please reach out to your regional analyst.
Central Minnesota's labor market posted only modest overall growth from 2024 to 2025, but the regional story is far from uniform. Total employment across all industries increased by just 300 jobs, or 0.1%, slightly slower than Minnesota (+0.3%), showing that the region was largely stable over the year. Beneath that small net gain, however, several industries saw notable growth while others experienced meaningful declines.
Governor Tim Walz proclaimed May 2026 as Hire a Veteran Month. The proclamation highlights the "unique value veterans bring to the state's labor force, encourages Minnesota employers to hire veterans, and recognizes the challenges veterans may face when transitioning to civilian employment or looking for work after returning from a military deployment."
Happy Hire a Veteran Month! According to the latest numbers from the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA), there were over 23,300 veterans living in Northeast Minnesota, representing just under 9% of the area's population. With about 8.1% of Minnesota's veterans calling our region home, the Arrowhead has a larger-than-average veteran population.
Northwest Minnesota's schools are caught in a paradox: enrollment is declining, yet the region faces persistent high demand for teachers in nearly every classroom role. Understanding why requires looking past the net job changes to consider retirements and career exits.
Newly released 2025 annual employment and wage data provides a detailed look at Southeast Minnesota's economy. Southeast performed well in 2025, with nearly 249,000 jobs spread across almost 13,700 establishments. The region added 1,700 jobs over the year, a 0.7% increase, which was the largest gain among all six planning regions in Minnesota. This steady growth reflects a diverse economy, even as individual industries chart vastly different courses.
With "Pomp and Circumstance" ringing through the air, thousands of high school and college graduates will walk across the stage and receive their diplomas in the 23 counties of Southwest Minnesota. According to data from the Minnesota Department of Education, there were just under 5,000 seniors at public schools in the region in 2026. That was about 6.5% of the total 12th graders in the state in 2026.
SUMMER 2026 LMI TRAINING SESSIONS
Our regional analysis team has just two remaining LMI training sessions scheduled for Summer 2026, running in June and covering the Northern Minnesota economy. Both of these sessions are virtual, so feel free to sign up for whatever option works best with your schedule and interests! If you or your organization would like a customized LMI training session, please reach out to your regional analyst!
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Tuesday, June 9
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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The Latest in Northeast Minnesota’s Labor Market
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Carson Gorecki
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Thursday, June 18
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
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Is Northwest Minnesota's Labor Market Holding Steady or Starting to Slide?
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Anthony Schaffhauser
Register
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CareerForce.MN.gov becomes official state labor exchange June 10
MinnesotaWorks.net retires on June 10, 2026, after 19 years in service. Minnesota employers have been moving from MinnesotaWorks.net to the CareerForce Post-a-Job platform since last year – but over a thousand employers have yet to make the switch to Post-a-Job. Employers who use the Post-a-Job platform have their open positions show up on CareerForce.MN.gov, a site that regularly gets a half million pageviews by more than 50,000 job seekers each month. Find out more...
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