by Oriane Casale
November 2022
The mission of the Labor Market Information (LMI) Office of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) is to collect, compile, and deliver high quality data and analysis about the state's labor markets and economy. Our work supports Minnesota's businesses, its workforce and economic development systems, students, and the workers of today and tomorrow.
We gather, analyze, and disseminate economic data on Minnesota's business community, workforce, and job market. We also provide key economic indicators, employment projections, and regional and statewide industry and workforce analysis along with information to help individuals make informed career decisions. We hope that access to high quality, up-to-date labor market information has played a role in making Minnesota one of the strongest job markets in the United States and that it will continue to help shape our economic future.
To improve our information and services, we regularly summarize related information including customer type, information requested, and satisfaction level. We share this information with you in the hopes that it may be as helpful for you to see how others are using our information as it is for us in guiding how we can best supply the information.
The information contained in this summary comes from several sources:
Information from our 2022 customer summary is included in this article as well as updates on projects we have undertaken and services we have improved during the past year.
The LMI Office offers a number of delivery methods for the data and information we provide. These methods include, but are not limited to:
Table 1 provides a snapshot of customer contacts we made over the past year. The majority of LMI customers accessed information from our website, but a significant minority received LMI services through other means.
| Table 1. LMI Customers by Information Delivery Method, 2022 | |
|---|---|
|
Type of Contact |
Number of Customers |
| Website | 337,500 unique page views |
| Telephone, email, and mail requests | 3,300 contacts |
| Presentations and trainings | 308 presentations/trainings given 8,500 audience members |
| E-Mail notification lists: LMI press releases, Trends, Review, and Local Look subscribers | 105,400 subscribers |
| Source: DEED LMI Office, Google Analytics and GovDelivery | |
Overall, LMI web traffic represented 15.5% of all unique pageviews on the DEED website in 2022.
Bucking the conventional wisdom that 'people are afraid of data', our data tools are our most popular resource (see Table 2).
| Table 2. LMI Web Traffic, 2022 | |
|---|---|
| LMI Web Property | Unique Pageviews* |
| Total: Data Tools, Trends and Review | 285,405 |
| Economic Trends | 42,028 |
| Employment Review | 38,957 |
| Cost of Living Tool | 21,761 |
| Current Economic Highlights | 17,167 |
| Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics | 14,802 |
| Career and Education Explorer | 10,444 |
| Regional LMI | 10,022 |
| Career Pathways Tool | 7,103 |
| County Profiles | 8,112 |
| Occupations In Demand | 7,275 |
| * A 'unique pageview' is counted once regardless of how many times the user loads the page during a session or visits the website. | |
| Source: Google Analytics | |
Table 3 provides the list of LMI's top five data tools. Our most popular data tool is the Cost of Living tool, which provides a yearly estimate of the basic-needs cost of living in Minnesota by county, region, and statewide.
| Table 3. Top Five LMI Data Tools by Usage | |
|---|---|
| LMI Data Tool | Unique Pageviews |
| Cost of Living in Minnesota | 21,761 |
| Occupational Employment and Wage | 14,802 |
| Career and Education Explorer | 10,444 |
| Occupations in Demand | 7,275 |
| Employment Outlook (projections) | 5,745 |
| Source: Google Analytics | |
The second most popular data tool is the Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics program which provides employment and typical wages by occupation and region in Minnesota to help employers benchmark wages and job seekers and students explore careers.
The Career and Education Explorer is the third most popular tool. It is DEED's main career exploration tool with which users can explore a wide range of occupations and related education, find wages, demand, job opportunities, and more as well as link to the Eligible Training Provider listings including WIOA-certified trainings.
The Occupations in Demand tool allows users to find out what jobs are in high demand in each region of the state. The typical wage, long-term employment outlook, training (or degree) required, and schools that offer training programs for each occupation are also listed.
Finally, the Employment Outlook data tool shows one-year and 10-year projections of employment growth or decline by occupation and industry for Minnesota's regions, statewide, and for the U.S.
During 2021 and 2022 we added tools and analysis to track our progress out of the Pandemic Recession. These included the Economic Recovery Dashboard which provides data on the changes in employment, labor force, and unemployment since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also developed analysis and a tool comparing past economic recessions and recoveries to the Pandemic Recession and recovery.
A series of Trends articles track the 631,000 workers who lost their jobs during the Pandemic Recession. These articles, called Reemployment After COVID-19 Layoffs in Minnesota are found in the June 2021 and the March 2022 issues of Trends.
Other analysis on the Pandemic Recession and recovery include the following:
Other analysis of note is an update of the Regional and County Profiles in 2021 and 2022.
We always welcome comments and feedback on our products and services. You can email us at DEED.lmi@state.mn.us or telephone us at our helpline: 651-259-7384 or 1-888-234-1114.
