This week, Peter speaks with Audrey Lucas, senior partner at McKinsey & Co. and GREATER MSP board member, about the launch of the MSP Regional Recovery Hub last month. The Recovery Hub is a new digital resource built for employers, policymakers and civic leaders who are looking for timely answers to questions about current economic conditions. Audrey offers a recap of the launch event, focusing on who the winners and the losers of the pandemic have been, how federal and state policies are impacting MSP's economic recovery, and how the Recovery Hub tools give employers the confidence to make specific business decisions in these uncertain times.

The big thing you should know about economic recovery in the Minneapolis Saint Paul region for the week of January 11^th. This Week’s Big Thing: the fragility of progress. We knew coming into 2021 that this would be a year of economic uncertainty, but I don’t think any of us knew just how rocky of a start we’d have coming out of the gates! 

The big picture: State restrictions enacted in late November to control surging COVID-19 case volume led to immediate impacts on the Minneapolis Saint Paul regional economy, particularly for the food and beverage service industry. Between late November and the end of the year the region experienced a backtrack of progress across several metrics, including employment, jobless claims, hotel occupancy, restaurant bookings, and small business employment. While COVID case counts have decreased from their late November peak, uncertainty abounds in early January as a new COVID-19 variant emerges in the state, vaccination distribution ramps up, and political instability distracts from economic recovery.

This Week’s Big Thing: A slowdown in new COVID cases in December led Governor Walz to announce further loosening of restrictions on restaurants, bars, and other venues on Wednesday. This is a big win for restaurants, which were restricted to take out service and limited outdoor dining at the end of the year. Aligned with the increasing distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, the loosening of restrictions laid out in Executive Order 21-01 signals that we may have reached an inflection point for the hard-hit service industry.

The big thing you should know about economic recovery in the Minneapolis Saint Paul region for the week of December 14^th

On Dec 16, 2020, GREATER MSP hosted the Recover Reality event to launch the new MSP Regional Recovery Hub. As part of the event, a panel of economic experts discussed the state of recovery in the MSP region, including Audrey Lucs, Dean Sri Zaheer, Commissioner Grove, and Abigail Wozniak.

This week, Peter speaks with Ginny Arthur, President of Metropolitan State University (Metro State) based in St. Paul, MN. Metro State is an engine of economic inclusion in our region, proudly serving students from 'non-traditional' backgrounds: over 50% are low income, BIPOC, adult learners, or are the first in their family to go to college. Ginny discusses the market trends she is seeing for the most in-demand careers,including cybersecurity. She argues bold action from State leaders is needed to upskill thousands of Minnesotans to compete and in the new economy.

This week we take a look at some of the data, trends, and outlook for high demand jobs that will be critical to regional economic recovery.

Join us on Dec 16 at Noon CST as we assess the latest progress toward economic recovery in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul region.