While not directly related to Minnesota Employment Law, a recent article on MinnPost.com discusses a recent study by the Met Council looking at the last 12 years of employment data for the 7 county twin cities area. The study showed some positive signs of recovery. Specifically, since the recession, the job supply in the twin cities is rising and the unemployment rate is falling. While employment levels have not returned to their peak in 2007, things appear to be trending in the right direction. Currently, the unemployment rate in the twin cities area is 5.3 %, which is well below the national average of 8.3%.
However, job growth in the twin cities has not compared well with other top 25 metropolitan markets over the last 12 years. While we have seen growth in education, health care, leisure, hospitality and finance jobs, many traditional blue collar jobs have been lost in the manufacturing, trade, utilities and construction fields. This is interesting given our relatively high rates of educational attainment, labor force participation and home ownership.
Also of note, the greatest growth in employment has been in the outer ring suburbs. During the last 12 years, the cities with the biggest gains in number of jobs include Maple Grove, 13,000 jobs; Eagan, 6,300; Richfield, 5,800; Shakopee, 5,200; Woodbury, 4,400; Golden Valley, 3,600; Lakeville, 3,500; and Blaine, 3,000. The biggest losers have been Minneapolis, 21,000 jobs lost; Bloomington, 17,000 jobs lost, and St. Paul, 13,000 jobs lost.
Hopefully the job growth trend continues so everyone can get back to work and have a good reason to follow the blog!
