BLOOMINGTON, Minn. — Throughout the metro, there is a desperate need for workers. According to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), there are over 300,000 job opportunities.
In fact, a company called SICK, Inc. held a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for its incoming North America headquarters located within Bloomington's South Loop District between MSP Airport and the Mall of America. The new campus promises 50 jobs over the next year and hundreds more through 2025.
"These are the kinds of opportunities we need to bring to our workforce here in Minnesota," a speaker said at the event.
While SICK designs, builds, and sells intelligent sensors, traditional retailers are hiring, too. Macy's held a hiring event Thursday to help fill around 400 part-time and full-time positions at metro area stores.
Despite the opportunities, a DEED report released Thursday shows 121,637 Minnesotans are unemployed and that Minnesota's unemployment rate held steady at 4.0% in June on a seasonally adjusted basis.
However, officials say to take the data with a grain of salt.
"Seasonally adjusted, we did lose 600 jobs," DEED commissioner Steve Grove said. "We actually did gain 36,000 jobs this month. It's just that the seasonally adjusted component of this knocked it down."
Oriane Casale, interim director of DEED's Labor Market Information Office, explained that because Minnesota is a "very seasonal economy," seasonal numbers impact Minnesota more than other states.
"To say job growth has stalled I think would be too big of a statement just given that we're part of a longer curve here and we are starting to look at things like 12-month averages and three-month averages because of the ups and downs that are taking place that are unique to this pandemic," Grove added.
Grove says the department is focused on helping connect workers with employers through a proactive call center.
"We have now reached out to over 50,000 Minnesotans that are on unemployment insurance with direct phone calls to them," he said. "We're continuing to have great conversations with Minnesotans about the opportunities that are out there."