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.
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1/23/2018 12:04:56 PM
Erik White
Recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Job-to-Job Flows Explorer shows the number of 22-34 year olds hired by Minnesota firms from other states. Unfortunately, this data is only available at a state level, but using other resources, we can get an estimate of how Northeast Minnesota is doing in attracting young professionals and what industries are leading in attracting this younger generation to the workforce.
Looking at the composition of the population in Northeast Minnesota by age cohort is one way of analyzing the region's ability in attracting and retaining a younger workforce. Overall, the region has only grown by about 3,000 people since 2000, less than one percent. However, the number of 25-34- year-olds increased by 7.1 percent, with an addition of 2,375 people since 2000. This rate is considerably less than the state of Minnesota's 11.2 percent growth of 25-34-year-olds. And looking at other younger age cohorts in the Northeast region, there were considerable declines in comparison to significant increases of the population 55 years and older (Table 1).
Duluth, on the other hand, seems to have a different narrative than the rest of the Arrowhead region. There has been much anecdotal evidence of the city of Duluth attracting younger professionals because of the outdoor recreation and job opportunities available. The overall population in the city has actually decreased since 2000, but has seen considerable gains of 15-24-year-olds and 25-34-year-olds. The city's colleges and universities are a huge draw for young people. But like the region, the city of Duluth has seen the greatest increase in older age cohorts (Table 2).
Despite little population growth and the aging population, Northeast Minnesota – including Duluth – finds itself in a great position to attract younger people because of the opportunities that will be available with upcoming job openings due to a retiring workforce.
Utilizing the Census Bureau's Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) dataset, we can find out which industries in the region have begun to attract a younger workforce. Overall, the region has seen the number of young workers increase by nearly 10 percent with a gain of 2,695 jobholders.
It comes as no surprise that Health Care and Social Assistance leads the way in employment. After increasing by 620 jobholders since 2011, about 25 percent of all 25-34-year-old employment in the region can be found in this sector.
Other industries that have considerable employment of 25-34-year-olds include: Accommodation and Food Services, Retail Trade, Educational Services, Public Administration, Construction, and Manufacturing. The transportation and warehousing sector has had the greatest percent increase with an additional 1,159 young workers added in the past five years. There has also been a sizeable increase of professional, scientific, and technical services workers in the region and their employment is now over 1,200 young workers (Table 3).
These young workers filled 30,685 jobs in 2016, showing that the attraction and retention of millennials is vital for economic development.
Contact Erik White at 218-302-8413.
