Letter from the Editor

March  2010

Gone Fishing

While many economists say the recession is over, the effects are still being felt in ways that you might not expect.

Take ice-fishing shanties, for example. According to a story on National Public Radio last month, more than three times the usual number of fishing shanties was clustered on Lake Wausau in north-central Wisconsin this winter. Wisconsin officials weren’t surprised. They say ice fishing always goes up when the economy is down.

Meanwhile, just down the hallway from where I work in the First National Bank Building in St. Paul, the woman who runs a skyway sewing shop says business has never been better, partly because of the recession.

Indeed, the impact of the recession can be seen in many ways, as several stories in this issue of Trends illustrate. Oriane Casale writes that 82 percent of the job vacancies in Minnesota came with health care benefits six years ago. Last year, in the midst of the recession, that number fell to 49 percent.

Rachel Vilsack’s story on migration and immigration trends in Minnesota includes this nugget of information: The number of foreign-born residents in the state and country declined for the first time in decades, likely related to the recession.

Less surprising is John Berglund’s analysis of funding for Unemployment Insurance Program benefits. Minnesota was among 25 states and one territory that borrowed a combined $26.5 billion from the federal government after depleting trust funds that pay benefits to people who lost their jobs. While job losses apparently peaked in Minnesota a year ago, Dave Senf writes in this issue that the rebound is likely to be slow.

Where will new jobs come from? One possibility is the growing field of renewable energy, including solar energy installers, a career category that Kate Aitchison profiles starting on Page 2. Elsewhere in this issue, analyst Kyle Uphoff writes about Minnesota’s distinguishing industries, which offer another possibility for job growth.

Undoubtedly, the recession has affected people in many ways, especially those who have lost their jobs. It was a tough year, but there have been many hopeful signs of recovery in recent months. Who knows? We might even see fewer ice-fishing shanties next winter.

Monte Hanson
Editor