This article was originally written by Renee Berg with The Mankato Free Press.
MANKATO — With two job openings for every available worker, it’s a job seekers paradise, experts say.
The unemployment rate locally was hovering near 2% as of November, said Ryan Vesey, business development director with Greater Mankato Growth. The national average was 4.2%.
“We’re at half of the national average,” he said. “It’s always consistent that we’re well below the national average. At 2.2%, that ties us for ninth in terms of lowest unemployment rate in the nation, looking at metro areas.”
Katie Jolicoeur, director of career services at Minnesota State University, said the low unemployment rate helps the university’s graduating seniors find jobs.
“A low unemployment rate means it’s going to be easier for our students to secure jobs, because when the unemployment rate is low, there’s less competition from a job seeker’s perspective,” she said.
The university has enjoyed high hiring rates for their graduating classes. The class of 2023 had 97% of graduates secure employment and Jolicoeur is expecting similar data for the 2024 class.
Ninety-four percent of the university’s graduates stayed in Minnesota, which indicates “there are plenty of jobs for our graduates, so they don’t need to seek employment outside the state of Minnesota if they don’t want to,” Jolicoeur said.
Asked if job seekers have the advantage in this hiring climate, she is quick to say yes. “They really do,” she said. “It’s a job seekers market right now.”
And as for which sectors have the best hiring rates, Jolicoeur said there isn’t a bad field.
Those graduating from the College of Business and the College of Education have employment rates of 98%, with health and nursing following closely at 97%, she said.
“I don’t think there’s a bad field to be looking into,” she said. “In the Mankato area we have lots of retail, accounting firms and manufacturing. So there’s a variety of places students can go when they graduate if they choose to stay here.”
“Generally this means that, on average, it’s easier for job seekers to find a job,” Vesey said, “and harder for employers to find workers.”
Tracking back to 2015, with the exception of the COVID pandemic period of 2020 and 2021, there wasn’t a single month where the unemployment rate was more than 4%, Vesey said. He calls this a “full” employment number, adding it’s an extremely tight labor market.
In November 2023, the unemployment rate was at 1.4%, the lowest of all time, he said.
“It might sound bad to call 1.4 to 2.2 an improvement, but it is,” Vesey said. “When you’re getting that low, it’s unhealthy for the economy. It ends up inhibiting economic growth.”