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As Labor Shortage Looms, Metro Workforce Planning Ramps Up

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The 7-county Minneapolis-Saint Paul region faces a worker shortage of over 62,000 by 2020. RealTime Talent and MSP Win are bringing new research to the table to help workforce planners mobilize around our current and future needs, an essential step if we are to maintain our region’s growth and competitiveness.

Workforce development professionals must be able to quickly support each jobseeker to identify and train for the career they aspire to; using data analytics on a regular basis creates stronger coordination between organizations and the best results for both jobseekers and employers.
In the last few years, a range of online analytical tools have enabled a clear view of our dynamic and constantly changing labor market. For the first time, this data is available to job counselors not just as information for reflection, but as a real-time action tool to direct jobseekers to the best opportunities.

We have developed a series of Sector Analysis Reports – a regional overview document and its one-page profiles of IT, manufacturing, construction, healthcare, business and financial services, and government – to provide an analytical methodology to know and react to demand, supply, and training program outcomes. In other words, these tools can help us more efficiently close the worker gap. We hope that you see value in this data and decide to replicate this kind of analysis in your own sectors and communities.

We believe workforce development must now be based on a real-time feedback loop. If you don’t know the analytics and if you can’t easily answer the top two jobseeker questions in an informed way, you can’t advise jobseekers well and you can’t help close the gap. So let’s start doing things differently.

Read, download, or print the full reports here, or take a look at the Information Technology sector overview report here.

Top Trending Entry-Level Healthcare Positions Focus on In-Home Care

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It’s no secret that there is huge demand for Home Health Aides across the United States.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics put out a report early last year, and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) followed suit in June 2016 with their article, “H is for Home Health Aide.” But will these positions be attractive to future workers who will have increasingly more choice in our nation’s job market and are looking for opportunities that offer a living wage and professional advancement?  Maybe not, unless employers start changing what they offer.

As many Minnesotans age and require additional medical attention (the population of Minnesotans over 65 years of age will increase by more than 400,000 people between 2014 and 2024), the need for Healthcare Support Professionals is increasing rapidly. Couple that with a growing preference to receive care in the home rather than in a care facility, the demand for Home Health Aides is skyrocketing.  In 2016, there were approximately 27,550 Home Health Aides working in the state and 4,457 Home Health Aide job openings advertised online; the occupation ranks as the 21st most in-demand position and the 20th most common occupation in Minnesota today.  Demand is projected to grow by 30.1 percent (9,254 jobs) between 2014 and 2024–the third highest growth rate of any occupation in Minnesota. However, these positions offer some of the lowest salaries of any occupation in the healthcare industry, with a median wage of $24,944 and currently advertised positions only offering $20-26k as a starting salary–just barely hitting the threshold for a living wage for a single adult ($11.39 in Hennepin County).  There may be little incentive to encourage workers to take on these roles as the number of job opportunities begins to exceed the number of available workers in the laborforce.

We are already observing high rates of job vacancies in entry-level healthcare positions that require an Associate’s degree or less.  Online job postings in the Twin Cities Metro for low-experience, low-education Licensed Practical Nurses and Home Health Aides have increased more than 7% since 2015, dramatically greater than other entry-level healthcare opportunities.  Hennepin County was home to 24% of the state’s total entry-level healthcare positions in 2016.

As Minnesota continues to face changing demographics, how will employers respond to ensure that they attract the candidates they need? Hopefully, we will start to see rising wages for entry-level healthcare positions.

For more data on healthcare occupations at the Twin Cities and Statewide level, check out our reports page.

Twin Cities Healthcare Report, March 2017

Minnesota Healthcare Report, March 2017

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