Transportation program to generate 15,000 jobs

A program aimed at tying transportation investments to business and job growth throughout Minnesota is expected to create or retain 15,000 jobs over the next three years, according to a new report.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Minnesota continues to shed construction sector jobs

Jobs in the construction industry continued to fall in December after losing 4,700 jobs in November, according to new data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

The loss of 300 additional construction sector jobs in December was a “continued and surprising weakness,” said Steve Hine, research director of DEED’s Labor Market Information Office. December’s decline is on top of revised figures that show 4,700 construction jobs were lost during November — not the 3,500 jobs DEED originally reported.

The heaviest losses came in civil and heavy construction, which Hine said was surprising because the state continues “to see a lot of those heavy construction projects taking place.”

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Minnesota leads in efforts to professionalize construction industry

As president of the Saint Paul Building & Construction Trades Council, I am excited about the construction boom our state is experiencing. Several new projects have put our state on the map for major construction cycles.

Read this letter to the editor in MinnPost.

April shows bring May flowers . . . and 3,800 construction jobs

The skies may have been crying and the streets flooding Thursday, but the state’s forecast for construction jobs was all sunshine. The construction industry added 3,800 seasonally adjusted jobs from April to May, according to data released Thursday by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Minnesota's construction industry adds 2,700 jobs in March

Unusually severe March weather didn't stop Minnesota's construction industry from rallying and expanding the job gains during the past year, according to the Department of Employment and Economic Development data released Thursday.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Construction remains Minnesota's fastest growing jobs sector

Construction employment weathered persistent winter chills in February to hold on to year-over-year gains. The industry added 6,766 jobs between February 2013 and February 2014, an increase of 8.5 percent, according to the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development data released Thursday.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Too few jobs? Soon, there may be too many

Officials have spent the past several years fretting about high unemployment, but Minnesota needs to start preparing for the fast-approaching time when it will have more jobs than workers, according to forecasts from the state demographer and state economist.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Minnesota unemployment rate falls to six-year low

The construction industry posted slight job gains in October, contributing to the lowest overall monthly unemployment rate for Minnesota since December 2007. The state's unemployment rate fell to 4.8 percent for the month, down from 5.6 percent a year ago, . . . .

Near double-digit growth forecast for construction

McGraw Hill Construction predicts total U.S. construction starts for 2014 to rise 9 percent to $555.3 billion.

Read more at Pit & Quarry.

Manpower: Hope for construction hiring in 2013

Minnesota's construction industry remains a bright spot for hiring, even as the overall employment outlook appears lackluster, according to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Survey.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Good jobs hang in the balance of Minnesota's frac sand debate

For a high school graduate who wanted nothing to do with college, Greg Stepka says, the limestone pit at Bryan Rock Products in Shakopee was a perfect refuge. He started in 1981 at $11.36 an hour and now makes almost triple that amount - plus full health insurance and pension benefits.

Read more in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Jobs recovering in state's construction industry

There is good news for Minnesota's construction industry, according to AGC of America. Jobs are starting to recover. Construction employment in the state totaled 95,100 in January, up 2.1% from January 2012. St. Cloud, Fargo, and Grand Forks experienced the greatest construction employment increases: 8, 16, and 13 percent, respectively. Minnesota lost more construction and mining jobs than any other state during the recession.

EQB issues silica sand report

The Minnesota Environmental Quality Board issued the Report on Silica Sand last week to provide background information on the topic of silica sand. The report provides the basis for more research and does not advocate a particular position, either pro- or anti-silica sand mining. The report looks at transportation systems, habitats and native plants, karst geology and groundwater.

Download the Report on Silica Sand.

MN adds 14,500 jobs in Feb; unemployment holds steady

According to Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal, Minnesota's unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent in February even as the employers added 14,500 jobs during the month. Minnesota has gained 50,800 jobs over the past six months, especially in professional and business services, and leisure and hospitality. Manufacturing lost 800 jobs in February.

Report: Minnesota skills gap? Not so much

Companies complaining about a lack of qualified job candidates may be causing their own troubles, if a study out Thursday from state economic development officials is to be believed. . . .  It turned out that the majority of the vacancies - 55 percent - were not difficult to fill.

Read more in Finance & Commerce.

Twin Cities home construction rebound continues

Home builders started construction of 1,344 new homes in the Twin Cities during the fourth quarter of 2012, the highest fourth-quarter pace since 2007.

Read more in Minneapolis St. Paul Business Journal.

Study says fracking leads to 20,000 jobs in state

A new study funded by the petroleum industry says Wisconsin firms employ 20,000 people supporting the unconventional oil and gas business - meaning sand mines, largely. The sand from western Wisconsin is used by drilling companies in North Dakota and other states to unlock underground natural gas and oil supplies in a controversial practice called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Read more in the Wisconsin Journal-Sentinel.

Frac sand: The magic mineral

Rural Wisconsin is a mix of woods and water, farmscapes and small towns - a landscape that is central to why so many choose to live here. Frac sand mining is changing the face of this landscape physically, economically, politically and permanently.

Read more in the Hudson Star-Observer.

Editorial: Don't Let the Frac Sand Debate Turn Into the Fracking Debate

Wisconsin may forever be known as "America's Dairyland," but perhaps a secondary title could be "America's Sandbox," because Wisconsin is home to the finest and most economically valuable sand in the world. I'm not talking about Wisconsin's beach sand, but rather its silica, or "frac" sand, which is mined from sediment beneath the surface of western and central Wisconsin.

Read this editorial from The Heartland Institute.

Sandstorm of Business: Badgers in the Bakken

Western Wisconsin's sand is old, perhaps 500 million years old, but never before has it received this much attention. Companies from all over the country are knocking on doors in the area, hoping to mine the mineral. . . . the sand is being used by oil companies in a process called hydraulic fracturing. The Bakken oil fields of western North Dakota is a destination for much of it.

Watch this interesting news story describing hydraulic fracturing from WQOW News 18 in Eau Claire.