Job Polarization
April 12, 2018
Minnesota has experienced significant job growth since the end of the recession, but the growth has been uneven when it comes to the wage levels of those jobs.
DEED analyst Dave Senf conducted a study for the latest issue of Trends magazine and found most of the state’s job growth in the last 17 years (1999 to 2016) occurred in low- and high-wage jobs. Middle-wage jobs, meanwhile, have been stagnant or shrinking, particularly in Greater Minnesota.
Senf calls the trend “job polarization.”
He looked at 22 occupations in Minnesota and found that those with the best pay (median salaries of $62,840 a year or higher) increased 28 percent over the past 17 years. Low-wage jobs in that group (under $28,030 a year) increased 23 percent during the period.