Tag: workforce

chart of stock prices

Inflation does vary between rural and urban Minnesota

By Marnie Werner Vice President of Research Click for a printable version of this report. According to a Star Tribune article in January 2022, “For the broader Midwest, inflation was 7.5% in December, far above the 5.9% rate in the more heavily populated northeastern states.” Inflation wasn’t even consistent around the state: “Rochester; St. Cloud; ...

What’s Happening in Greater Minnesota? – Part 3: Workforce shortages

The Center for Rural Policy and Development partnered with Sourcewell to produce short videos discussing our most recent research. In Part 3, Kelly Asche discusses the historically low unemployment rates as well as the drop in the number of people participating in the labor force during the pandemic, and how this has impacted job vacancies.

Slow employment recovery for leisure and hospitality – State of Rural 2023

Northern Minnesota saw significant declines in employment in the leisure and hospitality industry   By Kelly Asche, Senior Researcher January 2023 Every year the Center for Rural Policy and Development publishes the “State of Rural Minnesota,” a report outlining the demographic and economic trends in Minnesota using the most recent data available. Typically, the report ...
child painting on a table

Doing it yourself

by Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research Earlier this week I spoke to a group of business owners and childcare professionals in St. Cloud, where it’s not breaking news to them—or anyone else for that matter—that childcare’s 20-year downward spiral is now a major factor exacerbating the growing worker shortage.  As the pandemic upended all aspects ...

Developments in child care policy at the MN Department of Human Services

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here to read the main article, “Rural Child Care Solutions: From the Ground Up.” While communities have been learning how to get together and figure out solutions for their local child care needs, at the state level, the MN Department of Human Services has also been ...

The value of a regional overview for developing child care

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here to read the main article, “Rural Child Care Solutions: From the Ground Up.” One factor that has been helpful in the rural childcare arena is the involvement of organizations with a regional perspective, operating in a wider area than a county but more focused—with greater ...
Four cute babies sitting in a row

Rural Child Care Solutions: From the Ground Up

By Marnie Werner, Vice President, Research & Operations Click here for a printable version of this report. For a quick summary of this report, click here. Click here for more on what the MN Department of Human Services is doing to help with the child care shortage. Click here for more on the value of ...
chalkboard with words online survey

We asked and rural MN spoke: CPRD’s upcoming research agenda

By Marnie Werner, Research Director So, what keeps you up at night, worrying about rural Minnesota? Is it economic development? Housing? Access to healthcare? Long-term care? Child care? The deepening workforce shortage? These are the types of concerns the Center was created to research: subjects that may be universal for the whole state, but have ...

Webinar – COVID-19, by the numbers

COVID-19 didn’t just impact the health of rural communities, it also deeply impacted the local economy and workforce. In this webinar, Kelly Asche from the Center for Rural Policy and Development examines recently released jobs and workforce data during the pandemic. Three panelists join the conversation to discuss the numbers and dive deeper into the ...