By Dave Senf
September 2021
Share of total state employment climbed in all states from 2005 to 2020 in only three major occupational groups: Business and Financial, Computer and Mathematical, and Healthcare Support. The Office and Administrative Support group was the only major group to have shrinking shares in all states over the same period. Long-term trends in the state's occupational mixes were interrupted by the pandemic recession as job loss was extensive in some face-to-face service industries, such as restaurants, which drove down employment in Food Preparation and Serving Related occupations. How permanent the shifts related to the pandemic recession won't be known for a few years.
Minnesota's largest occupational share increases were in Healthcare Support (3.0%) and Healthcare Practitioners and Technical (1.7%) groups. The largest declines were in Office and Administrative Support (-3.8%) and Sales and Related (-1.4%) occupations. Nine of the 22 occupational groups recorded increasing employment shares, four occupational groups recorded no share change, while nine occupational groups saw their shares of total employment decline from 2005 to 2020.
The 15-year shifts in major occupational group employment across 22 major groups for all states and the United States are shown in this Tableau visualization:
The visualization is based on date from the Occupational Employment Statistic program which can be found at www.bls.gov/oes/tables.htm.
