Mankato leads state in employment growth

MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) - Mankato leads the state in year-over-year employment growth.

According to Greater Mankato Growth and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED), the 4% employment growth reflects an increase of 2,206 workers.

“These people that have left the workforce during the pandemic, they have all returned. We have as many people working now as we did in 2019,” said Ryan Vesey, economic development and research manager at Greater Mankato Growth.

There has also been rapid job growth in the last year, with 900 jobs added between March and June.

“The economy is growing faster than the population is growing. That is why we continue to see it go down and down. We just need more jobs and those jobs are growing faster than the people are,” Vesey explained.

With all the success in the Mankato job market, there still seem to be now hiring signs everywhere you look.

Vesey says has some tips for employers looking to fill in some spots.

“Reputation management, so you want to work with your existing employees to talk about why your business is a great place to work and then you need to share that. So instead of your job posting just saying what the listing is and what it pays, have a quote from an employee saying why they love working there.”

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