St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) -Minnesota experienced a record-breaking increase in the number of job vacancies over the past year.

A new report from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says state employers reported a record-setting 122,900 job vacancies in the second quarter this year. That is up 26-percent from last year when employers statewide reported just under 97,600 job vacancies between the beginning of April and the end of June. The previous job vacancy record for the second quarter in Minnesota was 115,000 vacancies in 2001.

The report shows the job vacancy rate in the Twin Cities was .8, which means there was less than one person for each job vacancy. The rate across Greater Minnesota was 1.1 unemployed person for each open job. State officials describe we labor market in Minnesota as extremely tight as baby boomers retire and moderate job growth continues.

“These figures show that hiring demand remains robust statewide because of increased business activity – and that’s good,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “However, I continue to hear from employers all across the state that it is increasingly difficult to fill open positions”.

60-percent of the job vacancies reported during the second quarter of this year were in the Twin Cities area, where the number of vacancies was up almost 37-percent when compared to last year. The increase in greater Minnesota was a more modest 12.6-percent.

44-percent of the vacancies involved part-time positions, and about 55-percent of the jobs offered health insurance coverage. The median pay for all of the vacancies was $14.39 per hour, which is up about $.40 per hour from a year ago.

 

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