3/31/2021 8:59:35 AM
Every quarter, the Labor Market Information (LMI) Office of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) publishes a slate of research articles that offer insights into important labor market trends.
In the March 2021 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends , LMI analysts provide information about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected employment as well as how and where we work. Articles in the current edition of Trends also include a look at which areas of study are mostly like to result in a job working in a graduate’s field that pays a living wage, a wage scale proposal to address recruitment and retention issues in the early care and education industry, plus an analysis of wage gaps between white Minnesotans and Black, Indigenous and People of Color that start right after high school.
Minnesota has some of the worst racial disparities in the nation, due to consistent and compounding systemic barriers for BIPOC Minnesotans. Few disparities are more consequential than the low earnings potential of youth of color relative to their white peers. The racial wage gap emerges so early in life that it is evident shortly after graduating from high school.
With enrollments fluctuating and student interests changing, Minnesota’s higher education institutions can benefit from better understanding the relationship between the selection of major and the resulting employment outcomes that graduates experience.
Job growth in 2021 is expected to be robust in Minnesota as more people are vaccinated and as dining, recreation and other opportunities expand while official restrictions continue to be eased and people resume more activities.
A new DEED data tool underscores how the pandemic recession is different from recent recessions in a number of important ways and how it has had an unprecedented impact on employment in certain industries.
In 2019, about 190,000 Minnesotans were working from home. But things changed quickly with the coronavirus pandemic. By May 2020 over one-third of workers reported that they teleworked, which is the equivalent of more than one million Minnesotans.
As a result of low compensation, the early care and education industry suffers from recruitment and retention challenges that have made it impossible for many programs to meet long-standing staffing requirements that are a part of licensing regulations in Minnesota. This article proposes a wage scale that could help address those issues.
See the March 2021 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends .
Coming up in our next quarterly issue of Minnesota Economic Trends, due out in June 2021: A summary look at Minnesota’s labor market and employment trends in our annual State of the State issue, including articles that focus on regional trends throughout the state.
You can see an archive of past Minnesota Economic Trends articles on the DEED website .
