Updated Resources for Minnesota Job Seekers and Employers

Job Vacancy Survey shows a shifting job market

During 2024, employers in Minnesota reported about 120,500 job vacancies, which is the 11th highest number recorded in Minnesota going back to 2001. However, it is well down from the previous three years when the economy and labor markets in Minnesota and the nation were bouncing back from the Pandemic Recession.

With 94,300 unemployed workers statewide in 2024, there were 0.8 unemployed persons for each vacancy, or 8 unemployed individuals for every 10 open positions in Minnesota. This is up from 0.6 in 2023. This indicates that the labor market was more balanced in 2024 than it has been recently, with a closer to 1:1 ratio between the number of unemployed individuals and the number of job vacancies than we had between 2021 and 2023.

Job vacancies were down in all 6 planning regions, with the biggest decline experienced in Southeast Minnesota, followed by the Twin Cities metro area. In contrast, Central, Southwest, and Northeast all saw much smaller declines, each losing less than 5% over the year. 

Statewide, the Health Care & Social Assistance industry had the most job vacancies with 31,700 vacancies, followed by Accommodation & Food Services with 17,700, Retail Trade with 17,600, Educational Services with 8,700 and Manufacturing with 7,700 vacancies. Combined, those five industries accounted for just over two-thirds of the total openings in the state. Health Care & Social Assistance had the most vacancies in each region as well. 

Job Seeker Experience Survey results released

Finding a job is taking longer for many Minnesotans now, report DEED staff, Local Workforce Development Area staff and community partners in the CareerForce system. CareerForce staff and partners work with thousands of job seekers across Minnesota every week and offer a great sense of the current job search environment throughout the state. More than 275 CareerForce staff and partners took the latest survey. Just over half of respondents said that job seekers generally need more time to find employment compared to a year ago. Positions that the most respondents said are taking considerably longer for job seekers to get hired for now compared to a year ago include Managers and Leaders, IT and Math Experts, and Business and Finance Professionals. Positions that most respondents said are taking considerably less time for job seekers to get hired for compared to a year ago include Healthcare Support Workers, Food Service Workers and Cleaning and Maintenance Workers. Read this blog post with more details about these survey results on CareerForce.MN.gov.

CareerForce is Minnesota’s Official Job Search and Career Exploration Resource

CareerForce now has a new web address: CareerForce.MN.gov. You’re invited to explore all the job search resources on the site. Have questions about CareerForce? Email us at [email protected].