Minnesota job vacancies widen as economy improves
State employers reported they had more than 96,000 positions to fill in the final quarter of last year — the most fourth quarter openings since the state began tracking in 2001.
Vacancies in the last three months of 2015 were up 8 percent from the same period a year earlier, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development said Thursday.
Statewide, the ratio of unemployed people to vacancies was 1 to 1 — the state's lowest job vacancy ratio in nearly 15 years. The median wage offer for all jobs was $13.54 per hour. Generally, wages were higher for positions requiring more education or experience.
"These latest figures reflect a growing economy and increasing hiring demand in the state," DEED Commissioner Katie Clark Sieben said in a statement.
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Firms with 10 to 49 employees had the highest job vacancy rate. The largest firms, those with 250 or more employees, had the lowest vacancy rate, the department said, adding that large firms also had the lowest share of part-time vacancies and the highest median wage offers.
The report also showed:
• 37 percent of job vacancies were for part-time employment (fewer than 35 hours per week)
• 12 percent were for temporary or seasonal work
• 57 percent offered health insurance.
"Health care benefits were far less common for part-time job vacancies than for full-time job vacancies," the department added.