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Know another language? Bilingual jobs are on the rise in Minnesota

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If English isn’t your only language, you can find some great opportunities that leverage your unique skills

 

¿Se Habla Español? Chances are good that you do, because speaking a language other than English is at an all-time high in the United States.

As of 2015, one in five Americans—nearly 62 million people—speak a language other than English at home, an increase of 50 percent since 1990 (U.S. Census Bureau).  Here in Minnesota, the number of people speaking more than one language has been on a steady rise, and now nearly 12 percent of prime working age adults speak a language other than English at home (U.S. Census Bureau).  And this population is fairly well-educated. Over half (54 percent) have an associate degree or higher or at least some college.  Classrooms are seeing a dramatic rise in linguistic diversity as well, with 75 percent of Minneapolis classrooms having at least one student speaking a language other than English, according to data from Minneapolis Public Schools. Considering that multilingualism is expected to keep growing in Minnesota, it’s more important now than ever to bring this linguistic diversity into our workplaces.

In Minnesota, the most common languages are Spanish, Hmong, and the Cushite language family including Oromo, Somali, and Sidamo, but nationwide the largest increases have been among speakers of Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.  These happen to also be the sought-after languages employers hire for, according to the Center for Immigration Studies and New American Economy.  In fact, bilingualism was one of the top five most in-demand hard skills in Minnesota in 2015 according to online job posting data (TalentNeuron Recruit).

These trends mean more job opportunities are opening up for bilingual workers in most states. Between 2010 and 2015, the number of online job postings targeting multilingual or bilingual workers more than doubled in Minnesota, matching trends nationwide.  However, since a peak in the summer of 2015, counts of job opportunities specifically indicating a need for multilingual workers has been on a moderate decline—despite overall counts of job opportunities continuing to rise.

Using TalentNeuron Recruit, we identified the most in-demand occupations for people with bilingual skills, as well as the top cities and companies where you can find these jobs. Explore the lists below to get a picture of the bilingual job landscape in Minnesota.

Top cities hiring bilingual workers

Most Minnesota jobs hiring bilingual and multilingual individuals are located in large metropolitan areas, where the populations themselves tend to be more diverse or growing substantially.

City Number of Bilingual Jobs available in July 2017

Percent of Total Local Jobs available in July 2017
1.    Minneapolis 668 1.8%
2.    Saint Paul 330 2%
3.    Bloomington 104 1.7%
4.    Saint Cloud 83 1.4%
5.    Minnetonka 68 1.7%
6.    Eden Prairie 59 1.1%
7.    Rochester 55 1.1%
8.    Mankato 47 1.7%
9.    Eagan 44 1%
10. Duluth 33 0.7%

Top companies hiring bilingual workers

These employers had the most job opportunities open in July for a bilingual skill set in Minnesota.

  1. Tri-Valley Opportunity Council, Inc.
  2. Wells Fargo
  3. PromoWorks
  4. H&R Block
  5. The Valspar Corporation
  6. CrossMark
  7. U.S. Bank
  8. CSL Plasma
  9. Planned Parenthood
  10. Wireless Vision

Top jobs hiring bilingual workers

Sales and business development has the highest demand currently for bilingual workers, with 817 jobs available in Minnesota in this function area—up 30% from July of last year. These are the top occupations requiring bilingual skills in Minnesota (to the 8-digit SOC level).

  1. Customer Service Representatives
  2. Retail Salespersons
  3. Social and Human Services Assistants
  4. Tellers
  5. Supervisors of Non-Retail Sales Workers
  6. Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
  7. Merchandise Displayers and Window Trimmers
  8. Registered Nurses
  9. Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
  10. Healthcare Support Workers

 

Want to read more on this topic? Let us know in the comments.

Central Minnesota

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The 13-county Central Minnesota planning region had a population of 693,108 in 2014, almost 13% of the state’s population. With a larger population, yet a similar volume of jobs posted compared to other Greater Minnesota regions, the number of people in the labor force per job opening (potential candidates indicated below) is very high. This is the result of the region’s highly mobile labor force, with over 40% of the region’s working residents commuting outside of the region to get to their place of work according to one DEED analysis of the commute shed. Central Minnesota is a net exporter of labor with only 198,956 workers both residing and working in the region in 2013 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

According to DEED’s Occupational Employment Statistics, about 16% of all jobs held in Central Minnesota are in production manufacturing, whereas production comprises only 11% of all jobs statewide. Healthcare and social assistance jobs are expected to increase in demand by over 28% through 2022, while production manufacturing is expected to increase by only 3%. In 2014, DEED identified ten industry sub-sectors that define the region by having significantly higher concentrations of jobs and firms than seen statewide. Overall, Central Minnesota has 9.7% of the state’s total employment, but is home to 25% of the state’s employment in animal production, furniture, and related product manufacturing. The projected slowed growth of manufacturing and production in the region is of particular concern for the local communities that rely on these economic niches, which are extremely diverse across the eastern and western subregions of Central Minnesota.

Transportation services are in high demand in Central Minnesota, accounting for 17% of all jobs advertised online to date in 2016. Healthcare positions are the second most sought, with 14% of all postings pertaining to this sector. When health support occupations are included (3.2% pf the postings), the total healthcare function positions lead as the most-sought positions in the region. These types of jobs are typically advertised online whenever openings are available, and counts are a relatively strong representation of regional labor needs. However, a number of critical industries continue to post job openings in very low volumes and may under count actual need. Some of these industries include forestry and logging, paper manufacturing, electric power generation and transmission, and mining. Highly unionized industries and temporary or seasonal positions are also not advertised online in large volumes, and other data sources might capture the true number of vacancies better.

For the full report and a list of additional relevant data sources, see our Reports page.