Minnesota employers reported nearly 97,400 job vacancies in the fourth quarter of 2016, indicating the state labor market remains tight as baby boomers retire from the workforce and moderate job growth continues, according to figures released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.
DEED stated job vacancies were up 1.3 percent from the same period one year ago, when there were 96,100 vacancies statewide.
According to the figures, the Twin Cities had less than one unemployed person (0.9) for every job vacancy. In Greater Minnesota, the ratio was 1.4 unemployed people for each job vacancy.
"The latest figures indicate hiring demand remains strong statewide with many Minnesota companies looking to fill jobs because of increased business activity," said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy in a news release. "DEED will continue to deploy strategies and training opportunities that match Minnesotans to these available jobs."
The seven-county Twin Cities metro had 58,000 (59.3 percent) of the job vacancies. Greater Minnesota had the remaining 40.7 percent of the vacancies. Job vacancies were up 3 percent from a year ago in the Twin Cities and down 1 percent in Greater Minnesota.
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Statewide, health care and social assistance accounted for 22.7 percent of the vacancies, followed by retail trade (16.3 percent), accommodation and food services (13.8 percent), manufacturing (7.9 percent) and administration and waste services (6.6 percent).
By size, firms with one to nine employees had the highest job vacancy rate at 5.2 percent (5.2 openings per 100 jobs). Firms with 10 to 49 employees had a job vacancy rate of 4.9 percent, while firms with 250 or more employees had a vacancy rate of 2.1 percent.
The following were other findings of the study:
• Forty-three percent of job vacancies were for part-time employment. Part-time is defined as fewer than 35 hours per week.
• Nine percent of job vacancies were for temporary or seasonal work.
• Thirty-three percent of vacancies required some level of post-secondary education or training beyond a high school diploma.
• Forty-one percent of job vacancies required one or more years of work experience.
• The median (50th percentile) wage offer for all job vacancies was $13.97 per hour. Wage offers are highly correlated with experience and education requirements. On average, the more education and/or experience required, the higher the wage offer.
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• Fifty-three percent of vacancies offered health insurance. Health care benefits are far less common for part-time job vacancies than for full-time job vacancies.
More information is on the DEED website mn.gov/deed/ and DEED conducts the Job Vacancy Survey in the second and fourth quarters each year to gauge hiring demand and to determine job vacancy characteristics by industry, occupation and firm size in Minnesota.
