PROMISING SIGNS OF RECOVERY IN MSP
23 Jun 2021
Agralite, Arrowhead, BENCO, Brown, Connexus, Light and Power, Crow Wing, Dakota, East Central, Federated, Goodhue, Itasca, Kandiyohi, Lake Country, Lake Region, Meeker, McLeod, Mille Lacs, Minnesota Valley, Nobles, North Itasca, Redwood, Runestone, South Central, Stearns Electric, Steele, Todd, Wright Hennepin
COVID CASE LEVELS have stabilized, and vaccination rates have increased significantly since vaccines became available to the general public. MSP is now seeing just 81 average daily COVID cases across the 15-county metropolitan area, and case levels have decreased steadily and significantly each week, from 1,385 average daily cases in mid-April, to just 81 average daily cases in the second week of June. The share of the region’s population that has received at least one vaccine dose is now 56.7% (as of June 18th), and increased by 8 percentage points in the month of May alone. Most restrictions on businesses have been lifted or loosened, leading to increased business activity and employment levels for organizations across the region.
TOTAL REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT has increased each month for four months, and in May, there were 8.4% more jobs in the region than in May of 2020. Though monthly employment levels remain 6% below pre-COVID (May 2019) levels, the level of decline from pre-COVID employment is not as severe in MSP as in larger peer metros such as San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago. Further, the total number of unique job postings in the MSP region in May was 71,057, the highest level of monthly job postings the region has experienced in at least four years, according to RealTime Talent & Gartner TalentNeuron Recruit data. This is a strong and positive leading indicator that employer demand is increasing and employment levels will likely continue to rise.
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