Every month the GREATER MSP intel team tracks monthly jobs numbers reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. We then report out regional findings in the monthly MSP Economic Pulse. The August numbers show that while we are still seeing need for much recovery, there are some positive signals to share out. Overall, we saw continued improvement from July to August in unemployment (survey of households) and employment (survey of businesses). In this week’s post we share with you five positive signals in the MSP August jobs report.

REGIONAL AIR SERVICE REMAINS CRITICAL TO MSP’S ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS Air service is a critical component of any regional economy, and particularly significant for the Minneapolis Saint Paul region. Large businesses rely on dependable, ...

As COVID-19 cases surged this spring, air traffic plummeted. Two-thirds of the aircraft at MSP Airport were grounded. But as hundreds of new processes and procedures are implemented, more flights are being restored and passenger numbers are on the rise. This week, Peter speaks with Jeff Davidman, Vice President of State and Local Government Affairs at Delta Airlines. Jeff explains how those procedures have led to a major milestone — Delta restarting flights between MSP and Amsterdam, our region's first transoceanic flight since March. Even though it may take months or even years to see air travel fully restored, Jeff and Peter discuss how, by working together, we can emerge stronger than ever.

Since Make It. MSP.'s launch in 2016, hundreds of partners have collaborated through the initiative to better attract, welcome, and retain talent to the MSP region. Today, Peter is joined by two members of the Make It. MSP Leadership Council: Irma Márquez Trapero, Executive Director at LatinoLEAD, and Pamela Lampert, Chief Human Resources Officer at Pohlad Companies. Together, they discuss how the talent landscape of the region is changing, and how our ability to attract and retain talent with still be a critical part of our economic recovery.

This week the intel team is examining job posting and office real estate data to build a stronger picture of the shifting dynamics of remote work. We are posing some big questions about the implications of regional employers allowing talent to continue to work from home or remotely. While these datasets help us get a better understanding of this future of work trend, it’s critical that we get your feedback by participating in two surveys that are open right now to help us understand how to build effective strategies to continue to attract and retain great talent.

Each month the GREATER MSP intel team tracks economic indicators for the MSP region and publishes the MSP Economic Pulse to share across the Partnership. Included in the Pulse are monthly results of the Census Bureau’s household survey, which produces labor force characteristics, and the employer survey, which produces employment and payroll characteristics. We also publish monthly job postings trends, sourced from a third-party data provider that scrapes job postings sites across the web to produce a monthly count of unique job postings. Since April, the Pulse has been an increasingly important resource for tracking the economic health of the region because it provides nearly real-time economic conditions on the regional economy. 

Twin Cities Startup Week is the second-largest free entrepreneurial festival in the U.S and, like many other events, it will be going fully virtual this year. To learn more, Peter speaks with Casey Shultz, Executive Director of BETA, and Damola Ogundipe, CEO of Civic Eagle, about the importance of TCSW. Casey speaks to the silver linings of hosting the event at such an unusual time, and why one of its programs is actually responsible for her moving to Minnesota. Damola talks about how he may never have started Civic Eagle without TCSW, and the how the local startup community is working to turn racial justice conversations into actions.

The Regional Economic Framework was developed to support the economic well-being of the Minneapolis Saint Paul region and its businesses, communities, and residents. The Framework represents a partnership between the Metropolitan Council, the Center for Economic Inclusion, and GREATER MSP. Now adopted, the Framework qualifies the region for funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) for COVID-19 pandemic disaster recovery and resiliency funding. This week, Amanda Taylor provides her insights into the key learnings from developing the Framework, including how the collaboration in developing the Framework has strengthened alignment of economic development strategies with comprehensive planning and community development. Read more here.

Mary Grove and Brett Brohl, Forge North Leadership Council members and managing directors of Bread and Butter Ventures, share how they are supporting early stage entrepreneurs through their new fund and what it will take to double the number of startups raising early stage capital in our region.

This week, Peter talked with Mary Grove and Brett Brohl, founders and managing partners of Bread and Butter Ventures,  a new early-stage venture capital fund based in MSP and investing globally. They talked about the future of the innovation economy, MSP’s startup ecosystem, and the region’s bold goal to double the number of startups accessing early stage capital in MSP. Mary Grove spoke discerningly to the geographic location of MSP – in the dead center, the “bread and butter” of the country- being a huge advantage for our region and making it an excellent place to grow and invest. In 2019, the GREATER MSP Partnership, having also recognized this opportunity, invested in and launched Forge North, the region’s startup and innovation ecosystem-building initiative. The coalition brings together MSP’s massive startup ecosystem of entrepreneurs, investors, corporate innovators and other allies. Both Mary and Brett serve on Forge North’s Leadership Council and were instrumental in building the coalition. This week, the intel team is analyzing venture capital deal data for 2020-to date to see how venture financing activity is trending through the COVID-19 pandemic and to examine trends for our regions core sector verticals.