Recently released data from the Census Bureau shows that population in the Arrowhead region has decreased slightly since 2010.
In fact, the seven-county Northeast Minnesota region recorded a loss of 1,311 residents, a 0.4 percent decrease. Compared to the state of Minnesota’s 5.1 percent increase in population during that same period, the Arrowhead region is lagging behind in attracting and retaining residents.
Cook County has seen little population change. From 2010 to 2017 there have been 342 births and 318 deaths. There were 198 people who moved to the county in that seven-year period and with the increase of 24 births versus deaths, the county grew 222 people.
A total of 88 people moved to Cook County from foreign nations while domestic growth rose 110.
Hennepin County grew 99,643 people during that span, while Renneville County saw the most significant drop in population with a loss of 1,001 citizens.
The fastest growing job in the metro area is in the field of social assistance, which added 37,000 jobs from 2000 to 2017.
The fields of health care and social assistance providers added just over 19,000 jobs in central Minnesota, and the industry now comprises 17.9 percent of that area’s total employment.
In southeast Minnesota, the recent fourth quarter 2017 data release of DEED’s Job Vacancy Survey shows that there were almost 11,000 job openings in southeast Minnesota, a 30 percent increase compared to last year. When the number of current job seekers – based on the number of unemployed workers – is taken into consideration along with these vacancies, a startling issue arises – the region now has a 0.6 jobseeker per vacancy ratio. The benefit for some job seekers could mean less competition for jobs, but this makes it difficult for employers to fill their current openings.
Southwest Minnesota employers are looking for employees.
After ending 2017 with an average annual unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, tied for the lowest rate on record since 2001, employers in southwest Minnesota are crying out for workers to fill their jobs. Of the 221,500 available workers in the labor force, just 8,100 were unemployed. During that same time frame, employers in the region also set a record for the highest number of job vacancies posted since 2001, with 9,015 openings reported in the most recent Job Vacancy Survey. At that level, there were more job vacancies than job seekers to fill them, which sounds like Cook County in the summer, and increasingly, through much of the year here.
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