Home to the state's second-largest metro, the Northeast Region has a strong industrial sector, tied largely to the area's abundant natural resources.
Most of the manufacturing base centers on mining and forest products industries. More than half of the sector's employment is in paper and machinery manufacturing.
Want the freshest data delivered by email? Subscribe to our regional newsletters.
9/22/2016 12:04:56 PM
Erik White
The latest results from DEED’s Job Vacancy Survey – which tracks the number of job openings, wage offers, and education requirements by occupation and industry, by region and statewide – shows that Northeast Minnesota reported 8,055 job vacancies for the 2nd Quarter of 2016, an increase in job openings compared to the 4th quarter of 2015 (5,335) and the 2nd quarter of 2015 (6,213).
The newest results indicate that the Arrowhead region is still in a tight labor market. Not only did the number of job vacancies increase, the median hourly wage offer continued to increase. In the 2nd quarter of 2016, the median wage offered was $14.03, an increase of $0.23 from the previous result in the 4th quarter of 2015 and $2.50 more than wage offered for vacant jobs a year ago (Table 1).
With 8,055 job vacancies for just 10,250 unemployed workers, the region now has a ratio of 1.3 job seekers per job vacancy. Seven years ago, during the height of the recession, employers reported just 1,518 job vacancies in Northeast Minnesota, but there were 16,837 unemployed people in the region, which created a ratio of 11.1 job seekers per job vacancy (Figure 1). In comparison, the state of Minnesota had 97,580 job vacancies and 112,725 unemployed workers in the 2nd quarter of 2016, creating a ratio of 1.2 job seekers per vacant job, also indicating a tight labor market statewide.
Of the 8,055 job vacancies reported in Northeast Minnesota during the 2nd quarter of 2016, 30 percent were part-time and 42 percent required one or more years of experience. Only 26 percent of all job openings in the Arrowhead region required post-secondary education.
Construction and Extraction occupations had the most openings in the area: 1,638 vacancies and a median hourly wage offer of $13.55. This is considerably more job vacancies than has been reported and indicates growth in the construction industry in Northeast Minnesota. Many vacancies were for construction laborers, including highway maintenance occupations. Several large construction activities are underway, including the Hwy 53 relocation project in Virginia.
The Healthcare industry continued to see large numbers of job vacancies, as well. Healthcare Practitioners and Technical occupations had 878 job vacancies and Healthcare Support and Personal Care had about 440 job vacancies each. The former had a greater median hourly wage offer and fewer part-time vacancies; but there continues to be a range of job opportunities in health care in the region.
Other occupations in demand include Food Preparation and Serving with 995 openings, though many of these positions did not require post-secondary education and had low median hourly wage offers. At the other end of the spectrum, there were 268 Education and Training and 166 Management job openings, where more than 80 percent of these vacancies required post-secondary education and median wage offers ranged between $19.32 and $36.80 (Table 2).
Recent job vacancy results indicate that the region is still experiencing tight labor market conditions with construction and health care leading the way in offering job opportunities. There is a wide range of demand in terms of the number of openings, the amount of education and experience required, and the median wages offered. There continues to be demand for jobs that don’t require post-secondary education and have lower wages and are more likely to be part-time positions, as well as demand for higher-skilled, higher paying jobs.
Contact Erik White at 218-302-8413.
