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    Women at Work: Northwest Minnesota's Majority Workforce and Caregivers

    Women hold the majority of jobs in Northwest Minnesota

    3/19/2026 1:32:47 PM

    Anthony Schaffhauser

    In honor of National Women's History Month, the data tells a story worth telling: women don't just participate in Northwest Minnesota's economy, they carry the lions share of employment.

    According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-Year estimates, an estimated 230,115 women age 16 and over live in Northwest Minnesota. Nearly 59% are in the labor force — including those who are unemployed or self-employed — compared to 62.5% for the overall population. Women also have a lower unemployment rate (3.9%) than the overall regional average (4.4%).

    Women hold the majority of jobs in the region — and have for 30 years.

    Focusing on wage and salary employment, the Quarterly Workforce Indicators (QWI) show that women held 115,833 jobs in the region in the second quarter of 2025 — 52.2% of all Northwest Minnesota jobs (Figure 1). And this isn't new: women have filled the majority of regional jobs every year since QWI data began in 1995. That's a remarkable, sustained contribution to the regional economy.

    Figure 1: Northwest Minnesota Employment and Female Employment, Second Quarter 1995 to Second Quarter 2025

    Percent of jobs held by women versus total employment

    Source: Quarterly Workforce Indicators

    The Great Recession: Women stepped up

    The 2008 financial crisis triggered widespread job losses. From 2008 to 2009, total regional employment fell 3.4%, but female employment dropped only 1.6%. Many women entered or re-entered the workforce to offset lost household income, pushing women's share of employment to a peak of 55.3% in 2009.

    The Pandemic: Caregiving pulled women away

    COVID-19 created a different kind of disruption. Childcare providers, schools and eldercare providers faced closures, staffing crises and discontinuity of services. Women disproportionately stepped back from paid work to care for children and aging parents. As I stated in a /deed/newscenter/publications/trends/march-2024/index.jspcomprehensive analysis of Minnesota's labor force dynamics, "Caregiving is the plausible explanation for the lower rate of females in the workforce" and in earlier regional blogs tracking Northwest Minnesota through 2023 and 2024. A previous blog showed this pattern in the Northwest into 2023, with an updated blog extending to 2024 with more precise measures.

    That caregiving impact is still visible in the most recent data (Table 1):

    • Women ages 25–34 — most likely caring for infants and young children — saw employment fall 6.3% from 2019 to 2025, more than twice the 2.5% decline for men in the same age group.
    • Women ages 55–64 — most likely caring for elderly parents or grandchildren — saw employment drop 11.6%, nearly double the 5.9% decline for men the same age.
    Table 1: Northwest Minnesota Employment by Age and Sex, Year to Second Quarter 2019 to Year to Second Quarter 2025

    		Year to Second Quarter* Change 2019-2025
    2019 2025 Number Percent
    Female 116,603 117,538 935 0.8%
    14-18 5,478 7,028 1,550 28.3%
    19-21 6,486 6,641 155 2.4%
    22-24 6,196 6,040 -157 -2.5%
    25-34 21,622 20,262 -1,361 -6.3%
    35-44 22,871 24,435 1,564 6.8%
    45-54 22,266 22,165 -101 -0.5%
    55-64 23,673 20,936 -2,737 -11.6%
    65-99 8,011 10,032 2,021 25.2%
    Male 106,442 110,698 4,256 4.0%
    14-18 4,523 5,584 1,061 23.5%
    19-21 5,724 6,100 376 6.6%
    22-24 6,105 6,000 -105 -1.7%
    25-34 21,761 21,223 -538 -2.5%
    35-44 21,481 23,504 2,023 9.4%
    45-54 19,321 20,074 752 3.9%
    55-64 19,514 18,371 -1,143 -5.9%
    65-99 8,014 9,845 1,830 22.8%
    Total, All 223,045 228,236 5,191 2.3%
    *Average of four quarters from third quarter 2018 to second quarter 2019 and from third quarter 2024 to second quarter 2025.

    Source: Quarterly Workforce Indicators

    Are the pandemic effects behind us?

    The U.S. public health emergency ended in the second quarter of 2023. Women's share of regional employment ticked up from 52.0% to 52.3% that year — but has since plateaued and edged back to 2021 levels in 2025.

    A trendline added to Figure 1, starting in 2013 (when employment first recovered to pre-recession levels), shows a gradual decline in women's share of jobs through 2025. It's possible the pandemic effects are now as resolved as they're going to be, and women's employment share is settling closer to — though still above — that of men.

    Whether or not that trend holds, the contributions of women to Northwest Minnesota's economy are, and have long been, extraordinary.

    For more information about employment changes in Northwest Minnesota, contact Anthony Schaffhauser at Anthony.Schaffhauser@state.mn.us.