Ibrahim Hirsi
The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) has set aside more than $160 million to fund job training and placement programs in the 2018 fiscal year — an amount exceeding 30 percent of the agency’s $485.4 million budget.
That’s on top of the more than $205 million the agency spent on training and employment initiatives, which the agency either runs or funds, in its 2017 fiscal year. By comparison, DEED spent about $116 million each year on similar activities in 2015 and 2016.
The reason for the increase is no mystery: businesses across Minnesota have increasingly been in dire need of skilled workers, a gap the agency has tried to address by funding more than 70 nonprofit organizations across the state that offer employment support services and career training programs.