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MinnEcon Blog

20,000 MN jobs created/saved by stimulus so far. Really?

A new White House Council of Economic Advisers report estimates 20,100 Minnesota jobs saved or created so far from spending in the federal stimulus bill. OK, where are they? It’s the question we keep asking and the hardest one to answer. The White House estimate is basically a best guess. Still, I’m looking at employment…
by Paul Tosto

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Health insurance needs: Listening to your neighbors

We took a run at the health care debate recently, looking at where the uninsured live in Minnesota. Thanks to my MPR colleagues we’re now bringing your voices to the discussion. Check out the map below put together by MPR’s Public Insight Network and ProPublica, the non-profit journalism group. Hundreds of voices from across the…
by Paul Tosto

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Small business, tight credit: Our virtual forum

UPDATE: Forum on small business and credit is over and went great. Check out the entire conversation below as well as this follow up post. We invited nine Minnesota entrepreneurs and small business owners to chat online about the challenges of keeping the money flowing in this recession. You can watch it and contribute to…
by Paul Tosto

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Life as a MN small business person: a 15 minute tutorial

Scrambling for capital. Dealing with the stress. Loving what you do. If you want to know what it’s like to be a small business person in Minnesota these days, take 15 minutes and scroll through the virtual forum below. It’s a quick lesson in the joys and frustrations of running your own shop. We asked…
by Paul Tosto

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MN home value worries: Not just a Twin Cities thing

We’ve been reporting a bunch about home prices in the Twin Cities. But David Frank reminds us that values across Minnesota have been hit as hard or harder than in the metro area. Frank lives in Canby in western Minnesota’s Yellow Medicine County near the South Dakota border. He calls his economic outlook these days…
by Paul Tosto

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Will construction projects boost Duluth?

As we map the economic stories of Minnesotans in this recession, it’s not often we get one labeled “good news.” So it caught our attention when Bill Punyko emailed recently to say, “Duluth/Superior doing OK.” Punyko, a source in MPR’s Public Insight Network, lives in Duluth and is assistant principal at Superior High School across…
by Paul Tosto

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Home economics: Token parenting

My MPR colleague Andrew Haeg talked recently with a parent in our Public Insight Network about using incentives to encourage good behavior and savings among her children. She has some unique challenges. Here’s Andrew’s report: The challenge of raising four young boys combined with a massive recession can call forth from parents unexpected reserves of…
by Paul Tosto

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MinnEcon@Work: The swordmaker

MinnEcon@Work: The swordmaker

Craig Johnson once saw teaching as his life’s work. But the lure of pirates and knights proved too great. As a kid, he loved those swashbuckling movies of Errol Flynn. It fed a lifelong passion for swords and sword making. Johnson, 46, is production manager for Arms & Armor, a company that makes several thousand…
by Paul Tosto

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Better days ahead for Minnesota manufacturing?

We asked in early July if Minnesota manufacturing had turned a corner given upticks in hours worked and wages during the spring. Those indicators promptly dropped in the next report! New data, though, indicate things really are improving. Creighton University’s survey on Minnesota’s economy finds supply managers in a better mood in August, with the…
by Paul Tosto

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UPDATE: Better off without college?

Given that most current Minnesota job vacancies require only a high school diploma, we asked this morning if job seekers in Minnesota were better off without a college degree. Well, don’t leave school just yet. Trend data we got this afternoon from the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development show the percentage of job…
by Paul Tosto

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