It’s a seller’s market for job seekers in Central Minnesota looking to ‘sell’ their skill set to employers. October’s unemployment rate edged down to 2.2 percent from 2.5 percent a year ago, and the latest data on job openings show 41 percent more than the year prior. In fact, the latest job vacancy data from the 2nd quarter of 2018 recorded the largest number of job openings in the history of the survey (dating back to 2001). The latest record eclipsed the previous number from 2015 by 30 percent! This latest spike in job vacancies was the fastest in the state, which saw an overall increase of 16 percent. (Figure 1)

• 85 percent of full-time openings offered health care (20 percent for part-time openings)
• The median hourly wage offered for full-time openings was $15.98 ($12.14 for part-time openings)
  • the Utilities industry had the highest overall median wage offer at $21.55
• One-in-five openings were at retail trade establishments
• Two-thirds of full-time openings required a high school diploma or less
  • 19 percent required vocational training or an associate degree
  • 10 percent required a bachelor’s degree and 4 percent an advanced degree
• Just over 21 percent of openings were at firms with less than 10 employees
• The most common full-time opening was for retail sales workers, followed by construction trade workers and first-line supervisors of retail sales workers

Some occupations (such retail salespersons or cashiers) with higher turnover rates consistently have large numbers of entry-level openings to replace workers who get promoted or move on to a different career. These types of occupations also typically have lower wages; however, there are many occupations with large numbers of full-time openings that have relatively high starting wages, such as truck drivers ($20.08) or carpenters ($22.29). (Table 1)

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Contact Luke Greiner at 320-308-5378.