Each year, the Center for Rural Policy and Development provides a brief update on various economic and demographic data in rural Minnesota. As policy discussions concerning rural Minnesota unfold, it is important to understand the past, present, and potential futures of rural regions. This report provides historical data points, illustrating how rural conditions have changed ...
Ask business owners in Minnesota what their biggest challenge is today and most will tell you: “finding help.” Economic growth coupled with an aging workforce heading toward retirement and fewer young people to replace them is putting significant pressure on Greater Minnesota’s employers, making hiring significantly more challenging.
Over the next several months, the Center for ...
Across Minnesota, the “opioid crisis” is so much more than just opioids June 2018 By Marnie Werner, VP Research & Operations For the executive summary, click here. For a printable version, click here. If there were any doubt that opioids are the major health emergency of our time, two facts can put that doubt to ...
EXCERPT: “One-in-five U.S. rural hospitals are at a high risk of closing unless their financial situation improves, according to a new Navigant (NYSE: NCI) analysis of publicly available data. The study also shows that 64% of these at-risk rural hospitals are considered essential to the health and economic well-being of their communities. The analysis, which ...
One economic issue getting a lot of attention is particularly associated with rural areas: agriculture. Global trade, relationships with countries such as China and Mexico, and agricultural commodity prices have a major impact on ag and farming due to the large quantity of commodity crops we export around the world. Prices for corn and soybeans ...
EXCERPT: “City officials are hopeful that bipartisan legislation introduced Thursday in the Minnesota Legislature will give a long-awaited boost to the state’s Local Government Aid (LGA) program. SF 1304/HF 1102, led by chief authors Sen. Bill Weber (R-Luverne) and Rep. Dave Lislegard (DFL-Aurora), aims to increase LGA funding by $30.5 million, the amount needed to bring ...
EXCERPT: “Minnesota lawmakers weighed some of the first proposals aimed at addressing the shortage of child care providers in Minnesota’s rural areas Wednesday, Feb. 13. Lawmakers on the Senate Committee on Family Care and Aging advanced two bills that would set aside up $10 million in grants to help child care providers in Greater Minnesota expand ...
