Minnesota Employers Seek Nearly 21,000 Health Care Workers

(KNSI) – Minnesota employers were looking to fill nearly 21,000 health care jobs last year, even as the overall number of open jobs in the state continued to fall.

The numbers come from the 2025 Job Vacancy Survey by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED). The survey counted 12,593 openings for health care professionals and technicians, such as nurses, and another 8,368 for health care support workers, such as nursing assistants.

The timing is no accident. November is Celebrate Caring Careers Month in Minnesota, and DEED Commissioner Matt Varilek says ongoing worker shortages in health care make it harder for families to find care and create problems across the whole system.

The demand isn’t expected to let up. DEED projects health care and social assistance will add more jobs over the next 10 years than every other industry combined.

The trend is already showing up in central Minnesota. DEED figures show health care and social assistance added 1,177 jobs in the region last year, more than any other industry, and is now the area’s largest employer at more than 52,000 jobs. That growth came during a year when central Minnesota added only about 300 jobs overall, as manufacturing lost more than 600.

Many of these jobs don’t require a college degree. According to Jeanna Fortney, director of DEED’s CareerForce program, a lot of health care positions only need short-term or on-the-job training, most openings pay $20 an hour or more, and many employers welcome workers who are still learning English. Registered nurses and personal care aides were among the five most in-demand jobs in the state last year, with nearly 4,000 openings each.

The bigger picture shows a cooler job market. Minnesota employers reported 107,384 open jobs in 2025, down 10.8% from the year before. At the same time, unemployment went up. For the first time since the pandemic year of 2020, there are more people looking for work than there are open jobs, about 12 job seekers for every 10 openings.

Even health care saw fewer openings than in 2024, but it still had more than any other industry, followed by retail and restaurants and hotels.

Pay offers are inching up. The typical wage offered for an open job was $20.95 an hour, up 28 cents from 2024. About 40% of openings were part-time, a noticeable jump from the year before, and roughly two out of three required no education beyond high school.

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