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During the second quarter of 2020, employers in Minnesota reported a total of 111,753 vacancies, down 23.7% from second quarter 2019. Due to economic changes brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, this is the first survey period since 2016 when there are more unemployed workers than job vacancies (see Figure 1).
These 111,753 vacancies translate into a job vacancy rate of 4.0%, or 4.0 job openings per 100 jobs. This rate is down from 5.3% one year ago, and is the lowest posted since the second quarter of 2016, when there were 97,580 vacancies and a job vacancy rate of 3.6%.
Statewide, there were 2.4 unemployed persons for each vacancy, halting a three year streak of having more job vacancies than available job seekers. This is the highest number of job seekers per vacancy reported since 2012, when there were 2.6 unemployed workers for each opening. However, it is still significantly lower than the peak of 8 jobseekers per vacancy reached in the midst of the Great Recession in 2009.
Up until the pandemic, the state had been dealing with an extremely tight labor market. The reversal reflects a surge in unemployed workers due to pandemic-related economic changes. There were just under 100,000 unemployed workers in the second quarter of 2019, compared to nearly 275,000 unemployed workers this summer. Table 1 provides historical data.
Number of Job Vacancies |
Number of Vacancies
|
Number of Unemployed
|
|
2nd Quarter 2001 |
115,072 |
4.5 |
0.9 |
4th Quarter 2001 |
79,793 |
3.1 |
1.4 |
2nd Quarter 2002 |
69,715 |
2.8 |
1.9 |
4th Quarter 2002 |
56,166 |
2.2 |
2.0 |
2nd Quarter 2003 |
53,246 |
2.1 |
2.6 |
4th Quarter 2003 |
50,439 |
2.0 |
2.6 |
2nd Quarter 2004 |
66,543 |
2.6 |
2.0 |
4th Quarter 2004 |
51,137 |
2.0 |
2.3 |
2nd Quarter 2005 |
59,513 |
2.3 |
2.0 |
4th Quarter 2005 |
61,554 |
2.4 |
1.8 |
2nd Quarter 2006 |
64,958 |
2.5 |
1.7 |
4th Quarter 2006 |
55,736 |
2.1 |
2.0 |
2nd Quarter 2007 |
62,569 |
2.4 |
2.1 |
4th Quarter 2007 |
50,594 |
1.9 |
2.5 |
2nd Quarter 2008 |
51,722 |
2.0 |
2.9 |
4th Quarter 2008 |
31,066 |
1.2 |
5.5 |
2nd Quarter 2009 |
31,358 |
1.2 |
7.9 |
4th Quarter 2009 |
25,885 |
1.0 |
8.2 |
2nd Quarter 2010 |
41,397 |
1.6 |
4.8 |
4th Quarter 2010 |
33,804 |
1.4 |
5.8 |
2nd Quarter 2011 |
54,670 |
2.2 |
3.6 |
4th Quarter 2011 |
49,890 |
2.0 |
3.2 |
2nd Quarter 2012 |
62,949 |
2.5 |
2.6 |
4th Quarter 2012 |
58,864 |
2.3 |
2.6 |
2nd Quarter 2013 |
72,569 |
2.8 |
2.1 |
4th Quarter 2013 |
60,397 |
2.3 |
2.1 |
2nd Quarter 2014 |
84,696 |
3.3 |
1.6 |
4th Quarter 2014 |
88,927 |
3.4 |
1.1 |
2nd Quarter 2015 |
97,997 |
3.7 |
1.2 |
4th Quarter 2015 |
96,114 |
3.6 |
1.0 |
2nd Quarter 2016 |
97,580 |
3.6 |
1.2 |
4th Quarter 2016 |
97,374 |
3.6 |
1.1 |
2nd Quarter 2017 |
122,929 |
4.5 |
0.9 |
4th Quarter 2017 |
113,774 |
4.2 |
0.8 |
2nd Quarter 2018 |
142,282 |
5.2 |
0.6 |
4th Quarter 2018 |
136,917 |
4.9 |
0.6 |
2nd Quarter 2019 |
146,513 |
5.3 |
0.6 |
4th Quarter 2019 |
127,550 |
4.6 |
0.7 |
2nd Quarter 2020 |
111,753 |
4.0 |
2.4 |
Regionally, 65,879 or 59% of all job vacancies were located in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area, while the remaining 45,874 vacancies, or 41%, were located in Greater Minnesota. Compared to one year ago, the number of job vacancies decreased by 23.4% in the Twin Cities and 24.1% in Greater Minnesota. The Twin Cities’ job vacancy rate was 3.8% and Greater Minnesota’s was 4.3%. The Twin Cities had 2.5 job seekers for each vacancy and Greater Minnesota had 2.4 job seekers for each vacancy.
Statewide, the Health Care & Social Assistance industry had the most job vacancies, followed by Retail Trade and Accommodation and Food Services (see Figure 2). Sixteen of the 20 industries saw a year-over-year decline in the number of vacancies posted, with the biggest drops in Accommodation and Food Services, Manufacturing, and Health Care and Social Assistance. Information saw the biggest increase over the year – likely due to heightened demand for telecommunications and internet services.
By occupational group, Sales & Related had the most vacancies with 14,394 openings, followed by Food Preparation & Serving Related (13,395), Healthcare Support (12,957), Healthcare Practitioners & Technical (9,474), and Transportation and Material Moving (8,564). While vacancies were down 20% in both sales and transportation occupations, and down 40% for food prep and serving workers, demand was up for healthcare workers, particularly in healthcare support.
The detailed occupations with the most vacancies during second quarter 2020 were Personal Care Aides with 7,971 vacancies, Retail Salespersons with 6,131 postings, Fast Food and Counter Workers with 4,372 openings, Stockers and Order Fillers with 3,882 vacancies, and First-line Supervisors of Retail Workers with 3,727 postings.
Along with the number of vacancies, employers also report on the characteristics of their job vacancies. Some key characteristics of second quarter 2020 Minnesota job vacancies are as follows:
By size of firms, the largest number of vacancies were posted at medium-sized employers with 10 to 49 employees, accounting for over one-third (40,968 vacancies) of total openings. Another 30,000 vacancies were at employers with 50 to 249 employees, while the smallest businesses (1 to 9 employees) reported nearly 25,000 postings. The smallest number of vacancies were at the largest employers, and they also showed the biggest decline in job vacancies over the year.
The largest firms, those with 250 or more employees, had the lowest vacancy rate at 1.6%, but also had the highest median wage offer ($18.83 per hour) and were the most likely to offer health insurance (67% of vacancies). Wage offers increased the most at small employers over the past year, indicative of the higher job vacancy rate and increasing demand for workers.
Employers provide information on their job vacancies twice a year to enable us to estimate hiring demand and job vacancy characteristics by industry, occupation and firm size in Minnesota. The information is gathered through a survey of about 6,000 firms stratified by 6 regions of the state, 20 industry sectors, and 4 size classes.
These data provide job seekers and counselors with information on occupations showing hiring demand within their region. The information also helps employment, training and education providers understand current labor market conditions in their region and tailor services to better meet customer and employer needs. Finally, the data provides a leading labor market indicator.