This week we brought our "Summer of Jobs" campaign to the great city of Duluth. Given historic workforce shortages and an economy teeming with opportunity, our "Summer of Jobs" campaign has three primary goals:

1. Showcase the thousands of amazing jobs available in Minnesota.
2. Amplify the many sources of labor that employers often overlook.
3. Highlight the innovation and best practices in workforce development from businesses, jobseekers, and communities.

I kicked off our day at Essentia Health to address the critical need for health care workers in Minnesota. I then job shadowed an Essentia Sterile Processing Technician, which is a critical and high-demand role across the health care industry. Finally, I led a roundtable focused on ways employers can connect with untapped talent within Minnesota's aging workforce.

Across the state, employers are grappling with a tight labor market. The most recent unemployment rate in Duluth (May 2022) was 1.5%, a historically low unemployment rate. The current unemployment rate is 2.1 percentage points lower than a year ago and 9.8 percentage points lower than was seen at the height of the pandemic (May 2020) where the unemployment rate was 11.3%. This shows just how tight a labor market the region is facing. The largest industry in Duluth is health care and social assistance, which makes up one-third (32.9%) of the total jobs in the city. This is an extremely high concentration of health care employment – statewide, only about 18% of total jobs are in health care.

Health Care Roundtable at Essentia Health

During my health care roundtable at Essentia, I learned about the strategies they've deployed to help alleviate workforce shortages in their company. They've created an entire department dedicated to workforce development that focuses on engaging with youth to consider a career in health care. Through career explorations, they want students to know that you don't necessarily need to work directly with patients to work in health care. There are lots of careers in HR, finance and IT that are also needed in the health care field. Essentia also pays for college scholarships and provide hands on opportunities like job shadows and internships. This summer alone they provided 90 nursing students with internships in the hopes of hiring them all upon graduation.

Job Shadow at Essentia Health

After our discussion, I headed to the Sterile Processing area at Essentia where I scrubbed up and met Brady Hill, a Sterile Processing Technician II. He gave me a behind-the-scenes look of a typical day in an operating room. Brady showed me how to sterilize surgical equipment and assemble surgical tools and supplies. This in-demand position only requires a high school diploma while training and certifications are provided to you on the job. I learned that Essentia employs two of the leading Sterile Processing Technicians who are helping set the standards nationwide for this important work. Without this important role sterilizing everything that comes into contact with patients, a hospital wouldn't be able to function. From prepping OR trays to cleaning incubators in the neonatal unit, they are the unsung heroes of the hospital.

Recruiting and Retaining Talent from an Aging Workforce Roundtable

For our final visit in Duluth, we held a roundtable discussion with CareerForce staff, local workforce partners, and employers focused on strategies around hiring and retaining Minnesota's aging workforce. While Minnesota's economy lost an estimated 60,000 senior workers to early retirement during the pandemic, almost half have come back. Many 55+ workers face ageism, which is holding our economy back. I heard advice from employers and partners on how employers can reorient their strategies to tap into workers who are later in their career. One key is flexibility – allowing for fewer hours, or maybe just taking on smaller pieces of a job. Employers should also consider the benefits of having a multigenerational workforce as a competitive advantage, much like employers appreciate the benefits of having a multicultural workforce.

This week's visit to Duluth for the "Summer of Jobs" campaign was an educational and engaging experience. I can't wait to continue job shadowing and highlighting more of the best-paying in-demand jobs available across Minnesota.

For a recap of our day, check out our video on DEED's YouTube page.