Central Minnesota is a manufacturing stronghold, with several global manufacturing firms operating there.
The region is especially well known for its expertise in food processing, printing, furniture manufacturing, appliances, machinery and heavy equipment manufacturing.
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12/10/2018 1:00:00 PM
Luke Greiner
It’s a seller’s market for job seekers in Central Minnesota looking to ‘sell’ their skill set to employers. October’s unemployment rate edged down to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent a year ago, and the latest data on job openings show 41 percent more than the year prior. In fact, the latest job vacancy data from the 2nd quarter of 2018 recorded the largest number of job openings in the history of the survey (dating back to 2001). The latest record eclipsed the previous number from 2015 by 30 percent! This latest spike in job vacancies was the fastest in the state, which saw an overall increase of 16 percent. (Figure 1)
Of the 15,536 job openings in Central Minnesota, 57 percent are full-time and just 9 percent are temporary or seasonal. Other highlights of current regional job vacancies include:Some occupations (such retail salespersons or cashiers) with higher turnover rates consistently have large numbers of entry-level openings to replace workers who get promoted or move on to a different career. These types of occupations also typically have lower wages; however, there are many occupations with large numbers of full-time openings that have relatively high starting wages, such as truck drivers ($20.08) or carpenters ($22.29). (Table 1)
Contact Luke Greiner at 320-308-5378.