Detailing the Labor Market
This month's blogs provide insights into various parts of Minnesota’s evolving labor market. Central Minnesota reveals what employers are saying in real time through a new survey; the Twin Cities examines labor force shifts using DEED’s LAUS data; Northeast demystifies the ‘Other Services’ industry and its role in the economy; Northwest explores declining college enrollment and its impact on the talent pipeline; Southeast highlights the challenges of an aging workforce and looming retirements; and Southwest uncovers the industry subsector that has the highest employment concentration. For more information, please reach out to your regional analyst.
A new survey taken in October 2025 of professionals who work directly with businesses – including economic development staff, Chamber staff and employer services staff at Local Workforce Development Areas – offers a timely snapshot of employer sentiment. These staff across various organizations are privy to a trove of information they glean from their conversations with employers on various topics. This survey is our attempt to provide a platform to share current data about what is on the minds of the employers we work with, and the results displayed in an interactive Tableau dashboard that compares results for each of the six planning regions of Minnesota and Minnesota statewide.
As we enter the new year, let's quickly revisit recent labor force trends in the Metro Area from 2025. We can grab and analyze this data from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) data tool. Among DEED's most popular tools, LAUS data reveals labor force statistics for the state of Minnesota, its regions, counties and even some of the state's larger cities. This data is released monthly and is based off of a number of surveys including the Current Population Survey (CPS) and Current Employment Statistics (CES)..
What exactly are "Other Services"? The North American Industry Classification System, better known as NAICS, is not well-known outside of the labor market information field. It is the system that we labor market nerds use to organize and describe employment by industry. Some industry definitions are relatively straightforward, such as Manufacturing, Construction, Mining or Health Care and Social Assistance. Intuitively, you largely can understand what businesses in these industry sectors do. But what about "Other Services"?
In 2019, 62% of Northwest Minnesota high school graduates enrolled in college the following fall. By 2022, that figure dropped to 55%, where it has remained through 2024. Statewide, the pattern was similar, but less severe. Fall enrollment rates dropped from 66% for the class of 2019 to 62% for the class of 2020, then fluctuated between 61% and 62% through 2024. And high school graduates aren't just enrolling at lower rates, those who do enroll are increasingly choosing shorter programs.
When workers retire, they take years of accumulated knowledge, established client relationships and expertise with them. Someone who's been doing a job for two decades has built networks, developed shortcuts, and learned to navigate situations in ways that can't be quickly replicated. For industries with older workforces, a wave of retirements means a lot of institutional knowledge could disappear in a relatively short time. Southeast Minnesota's workforce is getting older. Across all industries, nearly 25% of workers are 55 years or older. But some industries are aging faster than others, and the differences are worth paying attention to.
Location Quotients are a measurement of an industry's employment concentration in a region relative to that industry's concentration in the state. A location quotient of 1.0 means that the region's employment concentration is equal to its statewide concentration, while anything greater than 1.0 means that there is a higher employment concentration. At 5.5, the industry with the highest location quotient in Southwest Minnesota was Electrical Equipment, Appliance and Component Manufacturing.
AI's growing impact on Minnesota job seekers revealed in new survey
More than a third of CareerForce Staff and Partners who responded to the most recent Job Search Experience Survey said their job seeking clients’ employment or job search had been affected by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the past three months.
From AI-attributed job loss to AI-enhanced resumes, learn more about the ways AI is impacting Minnesota job seekers.
|
|
