EMPLOYMENT
Total employment in the MSP region increased steadily each month, a strong sign of economic recovery after more than a year of economic uncertainty due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In February, employment increased by 1% from January. The Leisure and Hospitality sector continues to experience the largest gains, as the sector was most severely impacted by state restrictions and public health concerns during the pandemic in 2020 and Early 2021.
|
WHAT THE DATA IS TELLING US February 2022 total nonfarm employment was 1,929,416, a 0.5% increase from January. The industry with the largest employment increase month-over-month was Educational Services increasing by 9.8% The industry with the largest employment decline month-over-month was Accommodation and Food Services down 1.3%. Total employment in February was 3% above employment levels one year prior, and -4% below January 2019 (pre-COVID) levels. Employment is especially higher from the previous year as restaurants were closed due to pandemic restrictions. This is a continued improvement in the employment gap between levels before COVID and after COVID, which was 3.6% at the beginning of the year (in January). |
POWERED IN
|
 |
 |
This metric tracks total nonfarm employment in the 15-county Minneapolis Saint Paul metro region. Data is updated monthly and provided by Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).
WHY THIS MATTERS TO ECONOMIC RECOVERY:
The employment drop from March to April 2020 was the largest monthly decline in employment on record for the Minneapolis Saint Paul region and over 230,000 jobs disappeared. While the hardest hit industries were those directly impacted by stay-at-home orders (arts, entertainment, recreation, accommodations, and food services), nearly all industry sectors experienced employment declines.
Employment change is a key metric to understanding economic health. Employment provides workers with either all or part of the income necessary to sustain their lives and families and is correlated with improved quality of life and longer life expectancy. Rising levels of employment are an indicator of rising economic output in the region as businesses retain and hire more employees. The pace of employment change month-to-month, year-over-year, and relative to pre-COVID conditions in 2019 helps us to understand the overall pace of economic recovery for the region.
RACIAL EQUITY AND INCLUSIVE RECOVERY:
Large gaps in employment between white non-Hispanic workers and workers of color have persisted in the Minneapolis Saint Paul region. The MSP Regional Indicators Dashboard reports a 9% racial employment gap in the latest year of data (2018), with 82% of white non-Hispanic workers (age 16-64) employed and only 73% of workers of color (age 16-64) employed in the region.
While racially disaggregated employment data is not available in real-time, we know that racial employment gaps have been exacerbated by the COVID19 pandemic’s inequitable effects on BIPOC communities. A 2020 analysis by GREATER MSP showed that BIPOC employment is concentrated in industries that were projected to be hardest hit by the COVID19 pandemic. The analysis found that 40% of BIPOC workers in the region were employed in retail trade, accommodation/food service, and healthcare.
TELLING THE FULL STORY:
Total employment levels and monthly and annual changes in employment tells only part of the regional recovery story. We also want to track wages to ensure that the kinds of jobs that are coming back pay quality, family-sustaining wages. Regional economic recovery means the return to pre-COVID19 employment levels, but it also means rising wages. Many of the jobs that were lost during the early impact months from the pandemic were low-wage and not expected to return. A successful recovery means the return of good paying jobs across industries. We can track monthly average earnings for private sector employment in the region. In February, the average hourly private sector earnings were $35.41, an 6.2% increase from February 2021. Year-over-year wage growth have increased at a faster pace over 2021 as a tight labor market has caused employers to increase wages to attract and keep workers.
HOW WE STACK UP:
To understand the relative pace of employment recovery we are comparing employment for the most current month to the same month one year ago, and the same month in 2019 (pre-COVID-19). February’s data show that the MSP region’s total nonfarm employment is 3.5% below employment in February of 2019, the highest rate of employment decline from pre-COVID levels amongst the peer set. In February, seven metro areas are experiencing total employment levels above 2019 levels, with Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth having the largest increase of 10.4% and 7% respectively. MSP’s year-over-year change in employment ranked lowest in the peer set, up 0.2% from February 2021 levels. In February Denver and Atlanta saw the largest year-over-year employment increase, up 1.3% and 1.2% from February 2021 levels.
|
HOW TO LEARN MORE:
To track monthly jobs numbers, including a breakdown of employment by industry and geography, visit Minnesota DEED’s Current Employment Statistics Data Tool.
The MSP Regional Indicators Dashboard includes economic indicators tracking employment, including total nonfarm employment, annual change, as well as racial wage gap and racial employment gap figures for the region.
The Center for Economic Inclusion publishes Indicators of an Inclusive Regional Economy, which include several employment and wage indicators disaggregated by race.
Want to share insights from the Regional Recovery Hub in your own presentations and materials? Download the Recovery Toolkit.