MSP Metro Workforce Report May 3 – May 9, 2020
Each week, RealTime Talent highlights the critical needs of employers in the 7-County Minneapolis-Saint Paul Metro (MSP) by lifting up the top jobs, skills, and certifications advertised by employers, as well as the top locations that employers are advertising openings aligned with five of the region’s most critical sectors. Each sector is comprised of a family of like-occupations that from a function and career pathway standpoint are related to one-another. These reports focus on jobs that require an Associate’s degree or less, and include an in-depth analysis on one occupation each week that is high-demand, high-opportunity, and high-growth.
In the second half of this report, we highlight an occupation in demand: Junior Software Developers. Read on for details on job posting trends, wages, and more.
Occupations in Focus: JUNIOR SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS
Over the next five weeks, RealTime Talent will dig in-depth on the workforce challenges surrounding critical occupations in-demand in the MSP metro region. The first occupation in focus is Junior Software Developers—one of the few IT occupations that has continued to see a consistent number of postings in the MSP Metro in April 2020 compared to April 2019.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Applications Software Developers was the occupation forecasted to have the second highest baseline shortage of talent in the MSP Metropolitan Area—second only to Registered Nurses.
Software Developers create and modify general computer applications software or specialized utility programs, and analyze user needs and develop software solutions. Typically, openings for Software Developers have required a Bachelor’s degree and a minimum of 2 years of related experience. Nationwide, only 8.2% of people employed as Applications Software Developers have an Associate’s degree or less.
Despite a record dip in total volume of new Junior Software Developer jobs in April 2020, latent demand from employers may rebound after the economy begins to “reopen.” Across positions advertised on any job board in the region, the volume of deduplicated available[3] Software Developer jobs in the MSP Metro was down only 5% in Jan-April 2020 compared to 2019. Even more surprising, among deduplicated jobs newly posted[4] only on corporate websites or the official job board of MN DEED (MNWorks), volume of new Applications Software Development jobs requiring 0-2 years of related work experience (610 jobs) were 10% higher in Jan-April 2020 compared to the same period in 2019—and represent nearly 17% of all software developer positions newly posted in the MSP region solely on corporate sites or MNWorks at any experience level (3,544 total jobs).
[3] Available jobs means the position was active on a website during the specified time frame, and may have been posted earlier than the time frame.
[4] Newly posted jobs means that the position was posted for the first time during the period specified.
Although job postings by local employers continue to indicate either requirement or preference for Bachelor’s degree talent at a rate consistent with years past, since 2017 a consistent number of positions indicate acceptance of comparable skills or experience in place of a degree (see sample language extracted from active postings on May 15, 2020 by 3 different employers below). Between January and April 2020, there were 687 available positions advertised on corporate websites or MNWorks that would accept equivalent experience or competency in place of a Bachelor’s degree (475 were newly posted in that period); as of May 15, 2020, there were 87 live Applications Software Developer positions live on corporate websites or MNWorks with these flexible requirements—despite the fact that there was only one live position on this day that explicitly described the role as “Junior”—a role at Consultis (Junior to Mid-Level User Interface Engineer – Saint Louis Park, MN https://www.consultis.com/search-careers/).
Link to Live CyberCoders Job: https://www.cybercoders.com/software-engineer-job-547161
Link to Live The Bernard Group Job: https://thebernardgroup.applytojob.com/apply/j7cMyUZEoB/Senior-Software-Engineer
[5] “WANTED Salaries” are estimates by TalentNeuron Recruit based on the advertised salaries of similar positions (similar employer, industry, job title, skill/certification/education/experience requirements).
Link to Live Braun Intertec Corporation Job: https://www.minnesotaworks.net/viewjob.aspx?jobid=11089848
Report released on 5/19/2020 by RealTime Talent on the INSIGHTS blog at www.realtimetalent.org. All data in the first section of this report is from TalentNeuron Recruit, accessed May 17, 2020 at www.wantedanalytics.com. Data from the Occupations in Focus section of this report is from TalentNeuron (job postings) and Jobs EQ, a tool of Chmura Economics, accessed May 15, 2020. Contact Erin Olson, Research Strategist at erin@realtimetalentmn.org with any questions or inquiries.
