Workforce Development Efforts Will Help Rebuild a More Equitable Minnesota
September 1, 2020
September is Workforce Development Month – and never in recent memory have investments in our state's workforce been more important. The pandemic has had a dramatic impact on jobs and employment in Minnesota. Our state's unemployment rate as of July is at 7.7%, down more than two percentage points from May, but still more than twice what it was in July 2019, when it was 3.2%.
The Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), and our workforce development partners throughout the state, are working to connect unemployed or underemployed Minnesotans during the pandemic with in-demand jobs at employers hiring now. This is the essential work of workforce development: preparing Minnesotans to step into a family-sustaining work that's not just a job, but a career. And, as we continue to navigate the new normal of living with COVID-19 while slowing its spread, this work is more important than ever.