MPR News with Angela Davis

Minnesota’s head of employment answers your unemployment questions

A wallet with money in it.
In a coronavirus-induced economic crash, more Minnesotans are turning to unemployment insurance to pay their bills.
Lukas via Pexels file

With businesses closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic, unemployment benefit applications have skyrocketed across the country. Minnesota has gotten hundreds of thousands of applications, many from people who have never before applied for unemployment.

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development Commissioner Steve Grove and two economists joined host Angela Davis to talk about the phenomenon and answer listener questions about their own unemployment situations.

Guests:

  • Steve Grove is the commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

  • Bruce Corrie is an economist and an associate vice president at Concordia University in St. Paul.

  • Aaron Sojourner is a labor economist, associate professor at the University of Minnesota and a former senior economist on the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers.

Use the audio player above to listen to the program.

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