Minnesota Economic Trends is our quarterly online magazine that provides expert analysis of the state's labor market, industries and economy.
Produced by our Labor Market Information Office, the online magazine features articles on workforce, demographic, and economic trends written by our labor market analysts and guest columnists.
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View previous editions of Minnesota Economic Trends, dating back to 1993.
The June 2025 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends offers a comprehensive look at how Minnesota’s labor market and economy have evolved over the past year and beyond. This annual "state-of-the-state" issue from DEED's Labor Market Information (LMI) Office highlights statewide job growth and employment shifts, and also provides more in-depth regional snapshots for each of the six planning areas.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that explore the contributions of foreign born workers and estimates of undocumented immigrants in Minnesota’s workforce, look at the surge in self-employed workers since the pandemic, describe our work helping high school students think about post-graduation plans, and introduce two new data tools to help with this, one that helps students choose a major based on a career of interest and the other that helps students be realistic about the cost of college compared to earnings post-graduation.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that introduce a new data tool to help students and counselors make informed high school course choices, summarize updated poverty rate measures, compare regional industry and occupational employment trends, describe Minnesota’s outdoor recreation industry and analyze employment in the energy industry.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that measure the exposure of workers and industries to Artificial Intelligence, help define green and clean employment in Minnesota, illustrate changes in employment and earnings over time in Minnesota industries and project Minnesota’s employment growth into the next decade.
The DEED Labor Market Information (LMI) Office’s annual state-of-the-state Trends issue provides an overview of Minnesota’s labor market changes and job growth, takes a closer look at each of the state’s six regions, explores green jobs, looks at short term job projections and details updates to data in the LMI Cost of Living tool.
This edition includes articles that explore what recent graduates of Minnesota post-secondary institutions earn, what industries hire recent graduates from various instructional programs, how Minnesota business owners are planning for future ownership transition, how Minnesota’s employment by industry has changed over the past 70 years, what Minnesota’s child care workforce looks like now in terms of economic well-being and professional development opportunities, how the Pandemic Recession recovery compares to that of the two previous recessions, what Minnesota’s migration trends can tell us, and why retirements mean Minnesota’s labor force isn’t growing as fast as the nation's.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that: explore the factors that influence workers’ decisions to stay at or leave a job and identifies industry sectors that have been most and least successful at retaining employees, determine factors associated with health care professionals’ choice to practice in rural Minnesota, take a closer look at generations in the workplace, and explore a new tool that paints a clearer picture of day-to-day requirements for hundreds of jobs.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that: provide a statistical snapshot of the labor force experience of Minnesotans with disabilities, measure outcomes for post-secondary instructional programs by median annual wages and net income seven years after graduation, explore whether the post-recession recovery improved racial and ethnic wage equity, and more.
The DEED Labor Market Information Office’s annual state-of-the-state Trends issue provides an overview of Minnesota’s labor market changes and job growth, takes a closer look at each of the state’s six regions, explores direct care workforce challenges, compares employment concentration by industry in different parts of Minnesota, and more.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that: examine reemployment among Minnesotans laid off at the height of the pandemic; analyze employment, educational and other economic trends and disparities related to the Hispanic or Latino labor force in Minnesota; a closer look at declines in government employment; and more.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that highlight the benefits of employment programs for people released from correctional facilities; offer a primer on understanding recession indicators; analyze wage distribution and wage inequality in Minnesota; examine inflation and wage growth by industry and across states; and more.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that: examine Minnesotans’ job mobility before and after the pandemic recession; analyze demographic, economic, and educational trends, and disparities regarding Minnesota’s Black labor force; take a closer look at Minnesota’s extremely tight labor market; and forecast short-term job growth by industry and occupation.
Our annual state-of-the-state issue of Trends provides an overview of Minnesota’s labor market changes and job growth and takes a close look at each of the state’s six regions, as well as examining wages and inflation, the role of Career and Technical Education in retaining workforce in Greater Minnesota, and more.
This edition of Minnesota Economic Trends includes articles that examine reemployment after COVID-19 layoffs in Minnesota and who is getting left behind, plus how unemployment insurance benefits worked to replace income for those laid off during the pandemic, as well as gender wage gaps post-high school for students who participate in Career and Technical Education, among other articles.
The workforce shortage remains a central theme in this edition of Minnesota Economic Trends. DEED Labor Market Information analysts share findings from the latest Job Vacancy Survey, provide the quarterly jobs forecast and explore the aging workforce in Minnesota and other states, cross-state commuting patterns and occupational concentrations, plus a look at which occupations are likeliest to offer remote work – and potential remote work trends, among other articles.
The workforce shortage emerged as a central theme in this edition of Minnesota Economic Trends. DEED Labor Market Information analysts explore the shortage’s impact on job growth in the state, the particular challenges facing employers in Greater Minnesota, and how an increase in earlier than expected retirements may be exacerbating the shortage, among other articles.
LMI analysts provide 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. In addition, analysts take a deep dive on one of the driving questions of the day that many employers across Minnesota are asking: where are the workers?
Our March issue of Trends includes an in-depth feature article exploring how racial and ethnic disparities follow high school graduation in Minnesota, a follow-up article on the early care and education industry with a proposal for a higher pay scale, an introduction to our new Comparing Recessions tool by looking at how industries have fared this year versus the past two recessions, and our updated 4th quarter 2021 forecast.
Our December issue of Trends provides information about the initial impacts of COVID-19 on the Minnesota economy. This includes our 3rd Quarter forecast, which presents scenarios for job recovery, an article about the profile of risk for prolonged unemployment based on demographic characteristics, and an article exploring CARES Act-related federal and state spending in Minnesota. It also includes articles on unemployment changes and the new Occupations in Demand list and tool for 2020.
Our September issue of Trends provides information about how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected different industries and workers. Our cover story looks at the health care industry workforce during the pandemic. We also provide a state-by-state comparison of labor market indicators. Other articles include an examination of where the workers are in Northeast Minnesota, a look at the early learning industry - which has sustained a quiet crisis for decades - during COVID, as well as a look at labor market outcomes of Latinos who attended higher education in Minnesota and an article explaining the state's Eligible Training Provider List.
Our annual state-of-the-state issue of Trends provides an overview of Minnesota’s labor market and takes a close look at each of the state’s six regions.
The March 2020 issue of Minnesota Economic Trends was being finalized as the first cases of COVID-19 appeared in Minnesota. At that point, the LMI Office and agency as a whole shifted focus - with all hands on deck to address the crisis. As a result, we decided to keep this issue short and not produce a printed version. We hope you enjoy these three stories.
The July issue will be our annual State of the State issue in which we will summarize what we know about the impact COVID-19 is having on Minnesota's labor market and economy.
Over 600,000 Minnesotans reported having at least one disability in 2018 – that’s 11 percent of the state’s population. Living with a disability is associated with a high poverty rate. Although poverty rates have fallen, the gap has endured for several years. Our cover story Disability Employment Statistics, compares and contrasts labor market statistics of Minnesotans with a disability with the general population and Minnesotans with no disability.
Hiring Difficulties in Manufacturing summarizes detailed employer interviews on hiring skilled production, repair and engineering technician occupations in manufacturing. The most difficult to fill are CNC programmers, machinists, mechanical engineering technicians, and quality technicians/inspectors.
In this issue we take a close-up look at each of the state’s six major regions. The overall story is one of slowing job growth paired with demographic trends – retirements of baby boomers, for one – that can no longer be ignored.
The cover story in this issue of TRENDS looks at how two communities on the move, Barnesville and Cottage Grove, pair a DEED dataset with strategy to keep business thriving.
This issue of Trends features a story on the impact of automation on Minnesota's labor market.
This issue of Trends includes a cover story about careers at medical and diagnostic laboratories.
Our annual state-of-the-state issue of Trends provides an overview of the Minnesota economy and takes a close look at each of the state’s six major regions.
The cover story in this issue of Trends looks at the value of a postsecondary education in terms of earnings and examines how factors such as gender, age and race affect who is likely to earn a degree. Choice of major and the financial impact of dropping out of school early also are analyzed.
This issue of Trends includes a cover story by Steve Hine and Cameron Macht about the growing number of immigrants in the Minnesota workforce. With the labor market tightening as baby boomers retire, foreign-born workers are becoming increasingly crucial in helping employers fill openings.
The cover story in this issue of Trends investigates the shortage of mental health workers in Minnesota, looking at the state’s educational pipeline for professionals in the field, potential policy implications and more.
Our annual state-of-the-state issue of Trends provides an overview of the state economy and examines how Minnesota’s six major regions are doing midway through 2017
The cover story in this issue looks at “stackable credentials” and whether they lead to better employment and wage outcomes.
The cover story in this issue of Minnesota Economic Trends looks at employment in the construction industry.
This issue’s cover story focuses on the rising cost of higher education and whether continuing an education after high school pays off in the long run.
Our annual state-of-the state issue that contains a series of articles reviewing Minnesota’s recent labor market performance
The cover story in this issue of Minnesota Economic Trends focuses on careers in supply chain management.
