Health care insurance provided by an employer is a key benefit sought by many career seekers.  Unfortunately, many of the occupational groups that have the highest number of vacancies in Southeast Minnesota are also among those with lower percentages of openings that offer health care insurance benefits.

According to the most recent Job Vacancy Survey, less than half of the top five occupational groups with the most job vacancies in Southeast Minnesota in the second quarter of 2019 offered health care insurance benefits. For example, Community & Social Service had 1,370 job openings but only one-quarter of them offered health care and Food Preparation & Serving Related had 1,610 job vacancies but only 43% of them included health insurance (see Figure 1). 

In addition, many of those same occupational groups that are characterized by a high number of vacancies but low percentages offering health care are also among the lowest-paying occupational groups, such as Food Preparation & Serving Related with a median wage offer of $11.89 per hour and Office & Administrative Support with a median wage offer of $11.59. 

On the opposite end of the spectrum, many of those occupational groups that have higher percentages of job openings that offer health care are among those with a lower number of regional job vacancies, such as seen with Legal and Life, Physical & Social Science occupations. Both of these occupational groups see 100% of their job openings offering health care, however combined only accounted for 56 job vacancies in Southeast Minnesota in the second quarter of 2019 (0.4% of the region’s total vacancies).  It should also be noted that the median wage offers among many of the occupational groups with these characteristics – low numbers of vacancies but high percentages that offer health care – are also among the highest-paying occupational groups. 

According to a 2019 report from the Minnesota Department of Health, health care spending reached over $47 billion dollars in the state as a whole in 2016. Their projections show a doubling from 2016 to 2026, identifying the “increasing pressure that health care spending growth places on the budgets of Minnesotans, businesses, and state and local government.”  Private health care insurance can be expensive and tough to acquire for some individuals, especially those with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, potentially leaving them with few options other than to pay high premiums and/or copays for the health care and medication(s) they need or, worst case scenario, going without. 

In sum, many of the occupational groups with high vacancy numbers and low wage offers also have lower percentages of the openings that offer health care. In contrast, those groups that have lower numbers of openings and higher wage offers are characterized by higher percentages of openings that offer health care.  This imbalance can create financial and health struggles for workers.

For More Information

Contact Mark Schultz at 507-205-6068.