Southeast Minnesota is a health care and agricultural powerhouse. The region is home to the renowned Mayo Clinic and some of the world's most recognized food companies and brands.
Advanced manufacturing is especially strong here, with machinery, chemicals, and electronics among the top products.
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9/8/2022 9:00:00 AM
Cameron Macht
At 1.8%, the state of Minnesota set a new record for lowest unemployment rate in June and July. It was not just the lowest rate in state history, it was also the lowest rate any state has ever reported! Of the six planning regions in the state, Southeast Minnesota continues to have the lowest rate, and has since April. Note that regional unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted, while the statewide unemployment rate of 1.8% is seasonally adjusted.
According to historical LAUS data, the region's rate has been below 3.0% in 13 of the past 15 months, including nine months when it has been below 2.5% and five of the last 10 months when the rate has been 2.0% or lower, including two straight months at 1.4% in April and May of 2022.
Seven of the 11 counties in Southeast reported unemployment rates below 2.0% in July 2022, with the low rate posted at 1.6% in Houston County, followed closely by Olmsted County at 1.7%. Every county in the region saw a drop in unemployment rate from June to July, with the exception of Steele County, which held steady at 2.3%, making it the highest rate in the region (see Figure 1).
These rates reflect diminishing numbers of unemployed workers, which is creating challenges for employers who have open jobs. Statewide, there are fewer than 60,000 unemployed workers, the lowest number on record, even as the state's labor force has expanded by more than 1 million workers since 1976. In Southeast, there were just 5,300 unemployed jobseekers in July of 2022, which is the 12th lowest number ever recorded (going back to 1990). The two lowest amounts were reached in April and May of 2022, right around 4,000 unemployed workers. The current number is about one-fourth of the number of unemployed workers hit during July of 2020, at the outset of the pandemic; and also 4,000 less than in July of 2019, prior to the pandemic.
Record low numbers of unemployed jobseekers combined with record high numbers of job vacancies has created a tight labor market in Southeast. In fact, with just 0.3 jobseekers per vacancy in the fourth quarter of 2021, the current situation reflects the tightest labor market that Southeast has ever faced (Figure 2).
Contact Cameron Macht at 320-441-6596
