Improving Economy Could Prompt Expansion

The economic downturn between 2000 and 2002 cost the Twin Cities metropolitan area 2% of its employment base. But by comparison, employment in the 10 largest metropolitan areas of the country shrank by an average of 2.9% during the same time period

The strong performance by the economy, especially over the second half of the year, has yet to inspire much of a new wave of hiring by employers. Minnesota's unemployment remained steady at 4.6% in November, up slightly from the 4.3% figure of November 2002.

Although the actual number of jobs lost to overseas markets is low as a percent of the total Twin Cities employment market at present, it is a worrisome trend that bears close future attention from the commercial real estate industry. Nationally, no industrial sector seems more ready for growth than the medical/bio-tech areas. Medical technology companies are critical to the health of the Twin Cities economy—almost more than in any other metropolitan area of the country. Leadership in the Twin Cities medical technology industry comes from such well-known corporate names as Medtronic Inc., 3M, Guidant Cardiac Rhythm Management, Boston Scientific/Scimed Inc., Starkey Laboratories Inc. and St. Jude Medical.

Medical technology companies will also be one of the employment drivers of the future: the state has projected employment growth of 30% for medical scientists and 21% for electrical engineers associated with the medical technology industry between 1998 and 2008. Related fields will grow as well. Employment of health practitioners and technicians is predicted to increase by 21% in the 10 years after 1998.