Next week on the iSpeak blog, we’ll be featuring a week of posts around teen summer employment. Stay tuned!

(You’ll even get to read about my favorite summer job!)

Our March 2012 edition of Minnesota Employment Review is now available! This issue includes our yearly feature on teen summer employment.

Stay tuned to the iSpeak blog later this month for an entire week of posts covering resources for teens seeking summer employment opportunities.

It’s been a busy week in the LMI Office for new publications!

Check out the new Minnesota Employment Review (February 2012) and Minnesota Economic Trends (March 2012).

The Minnesota Workforce Facts publication was updated, too. This fact book  is provided annually to Minnesota Legislators, is a compact summary of labor market indicators.

Finally, consider subscribing to our LMI email updates so you can be alerted when new publications and data are available.

If you’ve heard me speak recently – or follow me on Twitter - you know that I’ve been promoting iSPEAK, a Minnesota blog for career and education information.

On this blog, we try to take current and cutting-edge research, reports and resources and turn it into “news you can use” for career explorers and job seekers. (Employment counselors and career professionals will find it a valuable resource too!)

The blog is updated every other day with a new article. Visit and join the conversation; we’d love to hear from you!

The January 2012 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is here.

Feature articles include a look at wage inequality in Minnesota and the financial services industry in Central Minnesota.

Minnesota ACT State Organization 2012 Annual Conference is today!

If you attended my “Look to the Future” session, you’ll find my presentation and handout materials here.

The December issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available.

Check out the article on Minnesota’s Job Outlook in 2012.

I’ve seen several news and television reports in the last week on green jobs in Minnesota, which cite our very own Labor Market Information Office!

If you missed it, we released a final report on the multi-year study of green jobs. It’s everything you wanted to know about green jobs!

The December 2011 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends is now available in digital and print format.

Check out articles on real estate careers, employment in state and local government, green jobs, and Minnesotans who commute to North Dakota each day for work.

The November issue of Minnesota Employment Review is available. Feature articles include how Southwest Minnesota is recovering from the recession and a new data tool to analyze Minnesota’s workforce.

The October issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available. Feature articles include a look at the leisure and hospitality industry in the Twin Cities and an extensive look at Minnesota’s emerging green economy.

The November/December issue of CareerConnection, the newsletter of the Minnesota WorkForce Centers, is here.

Learn about how to conduct a career resource (a.k.a. informational) interview, read about a new web resource for green jobs, an get a list of interview tips from an employer.

The new issue of Minnesota Employment Review is here!

Read about the education/training needed for future jobs in Minnesota (and why this isn’t as easy to predict as you might think).

Our new edition of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available. Articles include a look at long-term unemployment, how to assist former offenders in the job search process, and green-collar jobs.

The August 2011 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available online, including a great analysis of the size of Minnesota cities.

The September/October 2011 issue of Career Connection - the newsletter of the Minnesota WorkForce Centers – is now available.

This issue focuses on how to stand out as a jobseeker during an interview.

The June 2011 issue of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available.

Read about trends in Minnesota green jobs and, of course, more!

Starting today, I have a new position as the Coordinator of Special Projects for Minnesota’s Labor Market Information Office. 

My job may be different, but my professional passion remains the same – connecting people to resources by providing Minnesotans with accessible and timely labor market products and services. I’m hoping my impact will make our LMI Office lead the nation in social media and new technologies.

I hope you still consider me a resource!

Just in time for your summer reading enjoyment, the June issue of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is here!

This is our regional spotlight issue, with articles from the regional analysis staff (including me!) and an overview of the state’s recovery from the recession.

Enjoy!

The May issue of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available to read online. Articles include a look at 2009-2019 regional employment projections and private sector employment in southeastern Minnesota.

The newest issue of  Career Connection is now available!

Find quick facts and stats for more than a dozen topics around Minnesota’s economy with the Minnesota Workforce Facts brochure, now updated to include 2010 data!

I was on vacation last week when the lastest issue of Minnesota Employment Review became available.

Check out the Twin Cities regional spotlight (authored by me) on how we get to work. Fun fact: 1% of Twin Cities residents ride a bicycle to work!

The March 2011 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available, with articles on Minnesota’s teen summer employment outlook and a spotlight on Northwest Minnesota.

The February 2011 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available.

Feature articles include an analysis of the LMI our office provided in 2010 and Iron Range employment.

The March 2011 issue of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available.

Adrian Shaheed and I have teamed up for another article for this issue, which focuses on minority entrepreneurs.

And Dru Frykberg and I continue are career feature. This month we spotlight fitness careers.

The April/May 2011 edition of Career Connection, the  jobseeker newsletter of the Minnesota WorkForce Centers, is now available. Download, print and share!

The January 2011 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available. Feature articles include an analysis of parenting and workforce decisions and workforce mobility in southern Minnesota.

Minnesota’s Labor Market Information Office released its new job vacancy numbers. There were 31% more job openings durng fourth quarter 2010 than one year prior.

A full report is available online.

Wages for 800 occupations across Minnesota – and its regions – have been updated to fourth quarter 2010.

To access these data, visit our Salary Survey website.

The February-March 2011 edition of Career Connection, a newletter of the Minnesota WorkForce Center, is now available to read or download.

Interested in green jobs or industries?  A new website compiles this information based on the research of Minnesota’s Labor Market Information Office.

The December 2010 issue of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available.

The spotlight article focuses on small businesses and entrepreneurs.

Over the years, I’ve been contacted by a handful of  individuals interested in meeting with me for an informational interview.  Since I love what I do, I’m happy to participate!

 There are some great online resources for informational interviwing too:

- Informational Interviewing: Get the Inside Scoop on Careers (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

- Informational Interviews (iSEEK)

The December 2010 issue of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available.

Great articles on green jobs, women business owners (authored by me), careers in health information technology (I was a co-author on this one), and more!

The November 2010 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now online. 

Feature articles include short-term employment forecasts and the farming industry in southern Minnesota.

The December 2010/January 2011 issue of Career Connection, a newletter of the Metro WorkForce Centers, is now available.

CareerConnection, December 2010-January 2011

It’s a great resource! 

(And it’s not just Twin Cities job seekers that read Career Connection; workforce development professions in many other states are requesting copies for their job seekers too.)

The October 2010 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available online.  Features articles include a look at the health care industry in Minnesota (authored by me) and a great analysis on green jobs in Minnesota.

The September issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available online. 

Feature articles focus on education this month, including the traditions and achievements in American Indian education and a look at graduation, training, and minimum wage jobs in Minnesota.

Fedgazette, the newsletter of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, has great articles on the green jobs and the economy in its October 2010 issue. 

The efforts of Minnesota’s own Labor Market Information Office to define green jobs and provide related career resources is discussed. 

Career Connection, the bi-monthly newsletter of the metro WorkForce Centers, is now available in an electronic format!

Download it here: Career Connection Oct-Nov 2010

The Sepetember 2010 edition of Minnesota Economic Trends is now available on-line.

The August issue of Minnesota Emploment Review is now available on-line. 

Feature articles include the characteristics of Minnesota business owners (authored by me) and a look at public transportation in Duluth.

If you track our Quarterly Census of Employment and Wage (QCEW) data for cities or counties, it is now updated to reflect first quarter 2010.

Our new job vacancy survey data for second quarter 2010 were released today.  Job vacancies in Minnesota up 32 percent.

A review of major findings and regional results are available online.

Videos of the Making Economic Cent$ job seeker workshop series are now available online. 

My presentation on transferable skills on August 24 at the Rice Street Library should be available soon.

The August services was hosted by the St. Paul Public Library and James J. Hill Library.

The July issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available online and includes an 8-page overview of Minnesota’s 2019 employment projections.

If you want to print the projection’s overview, see pages 17-24 here.

If you track, use, or follow our Minnesota Salary Survey, wage rates for 800 occupations are now updated to second quarter 2010.

A series of free seminars will take place at St. Paul library locations in August. 

Join me August 24 at the Rice Street Library for a workshop on on-line job search tools.

I’m working on an article for the July issue of Minnesota Employment Review on the newly released 2007  Survey of Business Owners data.  A product of the U.S. Census Bureau, the Survey of Business Owners (SBO) provides statistics on the economic and geographic characteristics of business owners – those with and without paid employees – by gender, race, and ethnicity.

The data are collected once every 5 years, so it’s always newsworthy.

The 2009 to 2019 employment projections are now available for Minnesota industries and occupations.  (Regional data are forthcoming.)  View lists of high growth/high pay or high demand/high pay occupations in Minnesota on-line too.

Can’t find what you’re looking for?  Let me know how I can help!

The June issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now on-line and includes an article on green jobs in Minnesota and the recession’s impact on hiring in southern Minnesota.

LaborStats Newsletter – Volume 1, Issue 4 is now available!

The May 2010 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available.

In addition to all the great regular features – like current employment data and business developments - you can also read an article on the Minnesota Labor Market Index, a single metric calculated to answer the question: ”How is the Minnesota economy doing?”

LaborStats Newsletter – Volume 1, Issue 3 is now available.

The June edition of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available. 

Articles include an analysis of the recession’s impact on rural and urban areas of Minnesota, how the recession will impact job seekers, and a story about Minnesota’s exports.

LaborStats Newsletter – Volume 1, Issue 2 is now available!

Here’s a list of websites I visited this week.  You might like them too.

• Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) – For community organizations, policy makers, and anyone just plain curious, CURA is a great resource for keeping up with the latest trends in urban and regional studies. 
• Minnesota State Demographic Center – With recent reports like “The Changing Lives of Minnesota Young Adults” and population projections to the year 2060, the Minnesota State Demographic Center is the go-to source for information on how to define and describe Minnesota’s population.  Monthly Brown Bag Seminars even offer you a chance to hear – and learn – from the experts.
• Twellow – Yes, I am one of those people with a Twitter account.  (I use it for work – see @rachelvilsack if you’re curious).   I’ve always found it difficult to find people or groups, until now.  Twellow is the yellow-page directory of Twitter (hence the hybrid name).  Use this site to search by category, including employment, business services, and more.  The accounts with the most followers will be listed first, but you can do a customized search to narrow down results. 
• USDA, Economic Research Service – I was working on a data request this week and found this website, which saved me about an hour of work.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service offers state fact sheets with information on population, income, education, employment, and (yes) farm statistics. 

There is no better source for great demographic reports in Minnesota than the State Demographic Center.

A new report looks at the changing lives of Minnesota’s young adults and includes statistics on everything from migration, marriage and children, labor force participation, income, and educational attainment. 

Or if that report doesn’t interest you, check out their site .  I’m sure you’ll find something there that you didn’t know you wanted to know!

Here’s a list of Web sites I came across this week.  You might enjoy them too!

• Do It Green Minnesota – A one stop resource for information on living green and sustainably. Topics include business, community, transportation, education, and more.  Sign up for an e-newsletter or view a green community calendar.  There is a lot to explore! 
• Minnesota GIS/LIS Consortium – Are you interested in a career in Geographic Information Systems, or GIS?  If so, you need to check out this Minnesota professional organization and their education links, GIS job listings, products and services, and more.  
• Minnesota Association of Geographic Education– In keeping with the geography theme, here’s a resource for geography education teachers and professionals.  
• Licence Minnesota – Does your profession require a license in Minnesota?  You can just look it up with this great on-line resource.  And you get information on the license requirements, agency contacts, and forms. 
• eFolio Minnesota – This is one thing I have not done yet: create a Web portfolio to highlight my career, education and personal achievements.   And since I live and work here in Minnesota, there is no reason not too, with this free resource.  My to-do list just got a little longer! 

I am proud to announce the start of my new LaborStats newsletter! 

Released on the first and third Friday of each month – the newsletter will include:

• Data Download – a review of current labor market trends
• Resources in Review – a list of Web site resources
• A feature article
• Status Report – an update on new labor market reports and statistics
• Final Analysis – my thoughts on a topic of interest

Check it out!  LaborStats Newsletter – Volume 1, Issue 1

The April 2010 issue of Minnesota Employment Review is now available online !  Stories include the impact of the recession in Minnesota and information technology trends in the Twin Cities.

If you use our Occupational Employment Statistics or Salary Survey web tool, you’ll be pleased to know that the employment and wage data for over 800 occupations in Minnesota are updated! 

Now available: 2009 employment estimates and first quarter 2010 wage statistics.

Here are some websites I came across this week that are you might find worth a visit:

• WorldCat - The world’s largest library catalogue.  Need I say more?
• MN FutureWork - This website is a collection of articles highlighting current trends and news that impacts industry, the economy and careers from various journals and media outlets.  You can even subscribe to RSS feeds to keep up-to-date on the latest news.
• Minnesota Business - This is one of the (many) monthly magazines I buy to keep current on business trends.  Guess what?  They have a really great website too!  Not only can you sign up for an e-newsletter, you can view job openings, visit an experts’ forum, and check out their blog.
• SEEK - This site is billed as “Minnesota’s home of environmental education resources” and it delivers.  With a lot of resources and tools to use in the education process about our environment, the site also has a job board, internship and volunteer opportunities, and a mailing list option.

Here are some website resources I discovered this week that you might be interested in too:

• InformeDesign – If you are an architect, graphic designer, urban planner, or just plain curious, this website brings together research information and resources on a variety of topics.  You can even sign up to receive email updates.
• Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal – This is easily one of my favorite sites to go to for business news, updates, and information.  Did you know you can also sign up for a “Daily Update” of the latest business news?  I didn’t until this week.  Now I’m “in the know” without leaving my inbox.
• Annual Directory of Biosciences Companies from Twin Cities Business  – If you’re looking for a career in the biosciences industry and want information on the region’s employers, look no further than this list.  From agriculture to pharmaceuticals, medical devices to renewable energy, this 2010 directory is newly updated. 
• Library Event Calendar from the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA) – There are few things in life I like more than books, so you’ll often find me wandering through the stacks at my local library.  But there’s a lot more there than just books!  With this easy event calendar you can see what’s happening in your local branch or across the Twin Cities.

The part of my job that I love the best is when I get the opportunity to help someone else.  This week I’ve given numerous presentations, all excellent experiences for me and for the participants, I hope.  (I even ran into a family member I haven’t seen in over 10 years!)

I realized this week that there are more things that I can do to help, including providing more resources on this site.  Please look for more expanded information from me soon!

And thank you!

The Regional Analysis staff is working on a series of training videos for our most common labor market information web tools.  I worked on one today. Check it out:

How to Use the Minnesota Salary Survey

Jennifer worked on one yesterday: Finding Labor Market Data Online

A new report by the Fiscal Policy Institute looks at the range of occupations held by immigrants in the United States.  What makes this report unique is the regional analysis of data for the top 25 largest metropolitan areas, including Minneapolis-St. Paul.   Here are just a few highlights:

- Immigrants accounts for 9 percent of the total Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area population.

- 48% of immigrant workers in Minneapolis-St. Paul hold jobs in management, professional specialty, technical, sales, and administrative support occupations.

Check out the report for even more!

The Job Skills Transfer Assessment Tool, or JobSTAT, is an online tool that matches the skills of your current or previous occupation to jobs which require similar levels of skills.   Built for Minnesota job seekers by the Department of Employment and Economic Development, JobSTAT will be developed for a national audience, thanks to a grant from the Department of Labor. 

Try out the tool and check out this great article about JobSTAT’s history and future development!

The March edition of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available online.  It includes a feature on the employment outlook for teens this summer, and Nate Dorr (my counterpart in Bemidji) looks at the career planning resources for teens in northwestern Minnesota.

There’ve been a slew of interesting new reports that recently caught my eye.  Here’s what’s on my reading list this week:

-  Richard Florida, et al., Cities, Skills and Wages, Martin Prosperity Institute, April 2010.  This research report investigates how regional wages are impacted by skills.   (And yes, that’s the Richard Florida of “creative class” fame.)

- Pew Economic Policy Group, A Year or More: The High Cost of Long-Term Unemployment, April 2010.  The data presented are national in scope, but still paint a vivid picture.

- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Assessing the Impacts of Education and Marriage on Labor Market Exit Decisions of Women, Feburary 2010. 

- Pew Research Center, U.S. Birth Rate Decline Linked to Recession, April 2010.  Minnesota’s birth rate dropped 1.2% between 2007 and 2008.

Enjoy!

The March edition of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available online.  The issue includes an article by me on the migration patterns of Minnesota residents during this recession.  Other topics include health care benefits, Unemployment Insurance, distinguishing industries, and more.  Enjoy!

The February 2010 edition of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available online.  Articles include the Duluth Prosperity Agenda (if you don’t know what that is, check it out) and an overview of our LMI services and customers in 2009.  In 2009, I gave over 80 presentations on Twin Cities labor market information.

Four large cities -Minneapolis, Buffalo, Oklahoma City and Rochester, NY -  ”weathered the recession” better than any others, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  These cities had the smallest increases in unemployment rates over the past two years.  In fact, compared to the largest 49 cities in the U.S., Minneapolis had the smallest rise in unemployment between January 2008 and January 2010.

The January issue of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now online.  The issue includes a story – and some interesting facts – about the 2010 Census.  (Authored by me, by the way.) 

And if you every wondered about how marraige impacts the labor force trends of people in Minnesota especially in the Central part of the state – check out Cameron Macht’s article Making a Marraige Work in Central Minnesota .

The December 2009 edition of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available here and includes a great article on how unemployment rates are calculated.

The November 2009 edition of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available online.  Articles include a Minnesota job outlook to third quarter 2010 and how the recession has impacted Southeastern Minnesota.

As we start a new year, I’ve got a plan providing more regularly updated Twin Cities labor market data here.

Stay tuned next week for more details!

In continuing article research news, I stumbled across an interesting statistic that I had to share.  Minnesota ranked 10th nationwide in the percent of the native population born in their state of residence in 2008.  It turns out 74.1% of Minnesota’s residents were born here in Minnesota.  (That includes me, by the way.  I grew up in Duluth.)

Which states rank higher?  Turns out many in the Midwest, including Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan.  Surprisingly, Louisiana (82.1%) and New York (82.0%) rank 1 and 2, respectively.  And it turns out that Nevada ranks last; only 29.1% of its residents were born there.

See the full list, from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 American Community Survey, here.

I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I am lucky to have the opportunity to research and write articles on labor market related topics as a part of my job.  

Right now I am fully engaged in researching migration trends in Minnesota.  And no, I’m not talking bird migration here.   Although I did come across a series of fascinating articles about Golden Eagle 42, a bird with a GPS tracking system who migrated from near the Arctic Circle to northern Minnesota earlier this fall.  You can even check out his flight path online!

Rather, I’m interested in how we move to different houses, counties, states, or countries and why.  There could be a lot of answers to why or why not- an economic downturn, a weak housing market, or even the behavioral changes of an aging population.  And just when I wondered how I was going to show this…well, I find some data.  And this short week smashed between two holidays just got a little more productive!

You’ll have to stay tuned in the new year to find out my results!

The December 2009 edition of Minnesota Economic TRENDS is now available. 

Be sure to check out these great articles:

- Closing the Gender Gap - How have Minnesota women faired during the later stages of this recession?

- Anatomy of a Recovery - What will economic recovery look like in Minnesota?

- Measuring Unemployment - How do we measure unemployment?

I had the pleasure of presenting this week to some great people from many different community agencies who provide employment services to refugees.  Their jobs may be difficult, I assume, given the economic climate and the limited experience or language barriers that some of these new residents to Minnesota may have.  

It made me think that I don’t know much about Minnesota’s refugee population, so I took a few minutes to do some research.  Here some of what I learned.

• First of all, let’s be precise about what we’re talking about here.  A refugee is someone forced from their home country due to a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, political beliefs, or membership in a particular social group.  Refugees receive permission to immigrate to another country, like the United States, and are able to apply for lawful permanent resident status after one year of continuous presence in a country as a refugee.
• Refugees settled in the U.S. are immediately eligible to work and receive assistance.
• In 2008, the maximum number of refugees that could be admitted to the U.S. totaled 80,000.  Six global geographic regions are allotted a portion of this total.
• Just over 68,000 refugees were admitted in 2008, 2/3 were from Burma, Iraq, and Bhutan.
• California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Michigan received the largest numbers of refugee settlements in 2008.   (In 2007, Minnesota ranked 3rd among states in the number of refugee arrivals.)

Read more for yourself here.

Research shows (and yes, I could cite the report if asked) that we hold 10 jobs by the time we are 36 years old, on average.   The career path for many of us includes post-secondary education, which will be needed for some of the fastest growing jobs in the coming decade.

The new issue of fedgazette, a publication of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis includes a great report of the cost of higher education.  Some great Minnesota and regional statistics are included.

And while you’re there, take a look at this article on state unemployment insurance funds.

I’m preping for a presentation next week on green jobs and resources available for job seekers interested in green careers.  It’s a topic I talk about often and there are some great resources for green jobs and training opportunities here in Minnesota.

Another good web site to explore green jobs is O*NET.  This is a national web site, but they have a great list of the new and emerging green occupations.

And if that is still not enough, check out this list of 100 Great, Green Career Links!

Part of the fun in writing articles is researching a topic I may not be immediately familiar with.  Right now, I’m working on an article on the 2010 Census, including a brief history of the Census (it’s been around since 1790, after all), how this Census will be different, and its implications for Minnesota.

Too often, I find interesting websites or data that due to space or topic constraints won’t make its way into my article.  Today I came across the Census Bureau’s blog, which I found informative and fun to read.

The October edition of Minnesota Employment REVIEW is now available on-line. 

The features this month include a look at the Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund, and an analysis of women workers in the Twin Cities (authored by me!)

Our Labor Market Information Office received a $1.16 million grant from the Department of Labor (Employment and Training Administration) for expanded research and analysis on green jobs.

Minnesota’s project will include greater collection and identification of green jobs, skill requirements, and labor force shortages.  They will also collect comprehensive information on green educational and training programs in Minnesota.

This site has a new (more stylish) design and a slightly different layout. If you are looking for presentation materials, check out the “Past Presentations” tab and look for the date and location of the presentation you attended. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please let me know.

I’ll be using this main page for blog style postings.

Enjoy!

You can now follow me – or, rather, new Twin Cities labor market data – on Twitter at www.twitter.com/rachelvilsack

Welcome to my weblog, a collection of useful information on the Twin Cities labor market.